by Pat Sobleskie

Created on: October 28, 2008

Should faith influence a citizen's vote? Yes, but not in the way that many may think.

One of the most defining and controversial faith-based issues that iinfluences voters is pro-life versus pro-choice in regard to abortion. As a Catholic, I've always struggled with this issue every election. Not supporting the ideologies of either of the two major political parties, I usually opted not to vote. This was my way of dealing with the issue...not dealing with it at all. But after 30 years of not voting, I began to think about the reasons for my apathy.

I wondered about how many pro-life advocates vote the conservative party simply based on this one single issue of pro-life. If so, do some conservative politicians use the pro-life stance simply to win elections, knowing they will capture the votes of those well-meaning pro-life voters? I also wondered about being pro-life. What does that actually mean? Does being pro-life only mean being anti-abortion, or does it include euthanasia, the death penality, embryonic stem cell research, supporting an unjust war? Where does pro-life begin and where does it end? I believe pro-life means more than simply being against abortion and it's amost an impossibility to find a political candidate who is truly pro-life in that sense. Maybe - just maybe - pro-life should be a moral issue, based on one's own beliefs, and not a political issue at all.

Basing one's vote on faith is actually a test of faith itself. I cherish my faith but I would never force my belief system on others, so why should my faith (or anyone else's faith) influence my vote? Don't we, as faith-based people, believe in God's gift of free will? Free will means choosing right from wrong - good from bad - but my belief system - my moral compass - might not be the same as some else's belief system or even those who have no faith-based belief system. Doesn't my own faith demand that I don't judge someone else's belief system: "Judge not and ye shall not be judged" (Luke 6:37).

Yet bringing faith into the political process does just that: It judges people. In fact, overzealous or misplaced faith can produce intolerance and even hatred which certainly is not what faith is all about, nor does this attitude promote a healthy national environment. Instead, it divides our country into two diverting halves which maligns us all in a united nation based on equality of all people.

Faith should influence a citizen's vote but not when it opposes our very democracy that we all hold dear. The separation of church and state didn't begin with the First Amendment of the Constitution. It was expressed over 2,000 years ago: "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21).

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