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| Yes | 60% | 2145 votes | Total: 3578 votes | |
| No | 40% | 1433 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesAsking a citizen whether faith should influence the way in which he votes is like asking a man whether his belief that his chair will support his weight should influence his choice to sit in it. A man's faith is the lens of life through which he views his future and the vehicle that takes him there. Faith turns theory into practice. When a citizen casts his vote, he is merely applying what he believes. Faith is what brings a man to the ballot box on voting day.
How can faith not influence a citizen's vote?" Doesn't every man believe in something? There are those who esteem a higher power and look to that eminence as a yardstick by which to measure the correctness of their actions. Others claim to have faith in nothing, which is really the same thing as saying, "I believe only in myself." Would we not rather that a man who casts his vote does so because he believes in one of the candidates? Such a question hints at the fundamental reality that faith is what makes our actions intentional and not arbitrary. It cannot be divorced from the choices we make just because we fear its deity.
Like it or not, faith does influence a citizen's vote. The Bible, regarded by many as a source of great wisdom, teaches us that faith is a gift that is imparted to the human spirit. Without it, there is no spiritual life and no way to communicate with the Giver of the gift. Hebrews 11:6 lends significant weight to this argument because it tells us that without faith, it is impossible for a human being to please God. If this is true, then faith is a necessary ingredient in making those kinds of decisions that call us to the accountability of someone or something greater than ourselves. Whether you believe in God or not, attempting to restrict the resource of faith from the decision-making process makes no more sense than trying to choose a position on the issue of abortion without the aid of moral compass.
We live in a post-modern culture where few absolutes exist and where human reason takes precedence over Divine truth. How then, do we anchor ourselves into such winds of change? How do we withstand the phenomenal influence of those who believe that faith is a life force that should be contained within the spiritual? And how should we address the misconception that reliance upon an object of conviction is a misguided notion that should not be allowed to influence the choices that we make?
The real uncertainty behind questioning whether faith should influence any aspect of life, let alone the privilege to vote, potentially stems from a subliminal and disquieting fear related to the source of one's faith. Should a man's faith in Islam be allowed to influence his vote? What about faith in Jesus Christ? Can I trust you to be influenced by the object of your faith and still make the right choice? Can you trust me to do the same? Questions like these lay suspiciously hidden beneath the surface inquiry, "Should faith influence a citizen's vote?" Perhaps we are only comfortable with the idea of faith influencing actions if it is a faith that we can embrace.
As long as religious freedom remains a reality there will be people embracing many icons of faith. This debate is not about which is the true faith. This argument is about whether those who have the right to vote may cast a ballot in consideration of themes like trust, commitment, and conviction, all of which are spin-offs of personal faith. Any man or woman who asserts that he or she is making choices apart from faith is simply refusing to acknowledge that faith is a central part of self that gives substance to the human spirit. Its influence in all areas of decision-making, voting included, is not only an imperative, but is unavoidable.
America's founding fathers came to this country to escape religious intolerance and persecution and to be allowed to live out their individual expressions of faith. Although they did not all share the same beliefs, they unanimously believed that faith should not be divorced from the market place of life. I count myself to be in good company as I boldly assert that faith, like other "inalienable" rights and freedoms provided for in the Declaration of Independence, should be allowed to influence a citizen's vote.
Learn more about this author, Dr. Deborah Bauers.
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No
The founding fathers of the United States of America were very adamant regarding their position for the separation of church and state. The First Amendment alone contains two separate clauses that together make very clear their collective view that no religion should ever have a foothold in the United States' government. Although quizzically, they placed many seemingly contradictory mentions of the mythological being of the Judeo-Christian faith known as "God" throughout the documents which were to shape this nation. This strange coincidence begs the question, "Should one's faith play ANY role when it comes to governing this country?"
While most, if not all, of the founding fathers of the United States of America were self-professed "men of God," all of them understood the dangers involved when religion infiltrates government. Almost every religious group in this country today are all staunch supporters of the separation of church and state, and have been since the beginning. Imagine if the U.S. government were to adopt Islam as the state-sponsored religion! If you are a believer in the Judeo-Christian faith, you might have just shuddered a little after reading that last sentence. Now you know how the "losers" feel when a government adopts a state-sponsored religion: terrified and oppressed.
While religions seem to offer positive moral guidance to those who would believe, there are many examples throughout the history of mankind of religious "morals" gone wrong. Followers of Islam most likely find the morals presented in Wicca to be immoral. Followers of Hinduism probably find some morals presented in Christianity to be blasphemous. When dealing with religious morals, there really does not seem to be any universal "right" way to live, nor does there seem to be any universally accepted "wrong" way to live. What seems perfectly acceptable behaviour to you might seem sacrilegious to the person standing next to you. Even what is thought of in the majority of religions throughout the world as the "ultimate" sin, murder, has been and still is perfectly acceptable in, and even glorified by, some religions.
I firmly believe that it is important to leave your religious beliefs at the door when going to the polls. We have, over the past eight years in America, seen the result of doing the opposite of that. President George W. Bush, who claims to be a Christian, received most of his votes from so-called Christians who expected him to inject their specific brand of religious "morals" into the policies of this great nation, and look how that turned out! Has gay marriage been banned? Has abortion been banned? Are schoolchildren across the U.S. no longer taught evolution in science class, and forced to pray instead? None of these things have come to pass since "Dubyah's" "election" in 2000, despite all of them being supposed major goals of the entire Bush administration and the majority of those who voted for him.
Luckily for the U.S. government AND religion, religious faith has not completely infiltrated the United States government yet. If American voters continue to allow their faith to determine whom they will vote for, I believe that this country will be doomed to failure. I believe that the reason why this country was so great for the first 200 years is because we were able to, for the most part, keep religion out of government. There are many indicators that this country is fast becoming something less than a beacon of hope throughout the world. I think most of the underlying problems contributing to that trend can be attributed to our inability to keep one of our (the American citizens) oldest and most sacred pacts with our government: the complete separation of church and state.
Learn more about this author, Mike Hanson.
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