by Theresa Hartman

Created on: April 26, 2010   Last Updated: April 27, 2010

When addressing the question of whether a person’s faith should influence their vote, it is necessary to identify what touchstones a person uses to make a decision when voting, or even upon what basis they decide whether to vote.

A person’s faith, if indeed it is true faith and not just customary practice, indicates what that person has decided is right and true; what values stand up to scrutiny and make sense to them in dealing with the challenges of everyday life. Seen in this light, a person’s faith influences not only voting, but every aspect of their life, as it determines their day to day decisions and actions in all things. Just as a person who is a pacifist would not vote to declare an unjust war because of their self-determined beliefs, a Roman Catholic, for example, would not vote for mandatory sterilization of women after the birth of one child. This decision is not based on an hierarchical decision to hand down arbitrary rules of conduct. It is, instead, the individual’s determination, based on their own conscience, to call themselves Catholic and to abide by that mindset, because they have found the Catholic philosophy in who they already are. The same is true of other religions and philosophies.

Many people who feel that a person’s faith shouldn’t influence their vote have no problem with a person’s lack of faith influencing their vote. They call it, “separation of Church and State.” In reality, it’s simply their own belief that having no religion is superior to having any religion. If a person is able to separate their beliefs from their decisions, that is either a sign of mental illness or dictatorship. A person who believes that one thing is right and good, and decides to do another thing that is less good or right, on purpose and to what they believe is their detriment, is in a state of disintegrity that precludes any rational decision. And a person who believes that a thing is right and good, and feels artificially compelled to decide against their better judgment is under some form of oppression, either by a person or by a government. Neither of these cases is an example of freedom of choice. Their vote is a lie, pure and simple.

A truly free person decides with their own best judgment, based on their own vision of right and wrong, what is good and proper to do; for themselves, for their family, for their community, and for their country. When a person’s philosophy of right

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