by Rebecca Rehm

Created on: July 08, 2009   Last Updated: July 11, 2009

By definition faith is; "belief in something or someone" so it stands to reason that one's faith will be reflected in every aspect of their life including a citizens vote.

Our right to believe in what and who we choose and to practice those beliefs in our every day life is a fundamental right guaranteed by our forefathers in the United States Constitution. Imagine what would happen to those rights if our country's leaders believed in nothing.

A faithless leadership could lead to chaos and ultimately destruction of our way of life. One's beliefs will dictate how they live their life.

I am a Christian, and yes my Christian beliefs as well as what a candidate's stand on the issues are has an impact on the way I vote, I believe that most people vote based on which candidates beliefs are the closest to their own.

Part of what makes the United States great is that every citizen is granted the same rights and can and should vote based on their own beliefs, whether or not those beliefs are based on one's religion or just based on what one believes to be right and wrong or a combination of the two there are many things that can influence what one believes to be important and all of these will affect ones faith and in the end who they will vote for.

If one's faith had no influence on one's vote what kind of leaders would hold positions in our government and what laws would be imposed on us by those we vote for? Would our way of life be guaranteed? Would our Constitution become useless? I honestly would not want to live in a country where I was not allowed to make my own choices about how I live my life.

Citizens in the United States are accustomed to having basic freedoms. We have the right to choose where we live, what we eat who we associate with, resulting in no repercussions.

Imagine laws being in place that would dictate everything you do or say, and if your belief was different from a faithless leader possibly be imprisoned. We have the ability to improve the way we live through our vote.

Some of our laws are imperfect but our system is what we have and thanks to our freedoms we have the ability to change what we don't like. We should hold fast to the fact that we have the right to vote based on our beliefs whether or not we all agree with the outcome; our beliefs were voiced via our vote.

So, yes one's faith should influence how you vote as well as who and what you vote for.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Rehm.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.