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Christian, faith is heavily biased towards political issues relating to family, morals, the environment, clean government, the protection of minorities and so on - would the world be better off for us not having such views? Besides what is the purpose of freedom of expression and other constitutional freedoms unless we reflect such rights through our votes.

If you think about it, even atheism is the de-facto religion of non-God, which votes or participates in politics based on its counter-religious standpoint, so they are also expressing their own values through the ballot.

It is naive to vote without conscience, but all conscience is deeply rooted in faith, whether we acknowledge that or not. It is fear of faith or an inability to wrestle with its implications, that causes lesser men to discredit faith, as Marx did when he invented the thin and unsustainable substitute of Marxism.

Engineers put faith in maths and science. Doctors put faith in medicine. Aircraft builders put faith in aerodynamics. Would any of those fields of human endeavor dare to embark on anything without firmly held beliefs in time-honored values, sound thinking or robust reasoning. Their "works" directly reflect their faith in the underlying science. The inseparability of faith and works is that universal.

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I live next to the most bankrupt nation on earth where an ignorant mass votes perennially for the same obnoxious and despotic ruler, because they don't have a conviction about the ethics of voting or the power thereof. They will only be free when their votes express deeper values and convictions, rather than the shallow traditions or safe, popular views of their neighbors and family members. Despotism is what you get when people vote without conscience, conviction or faith.

Religion is people and people are religion. The struggles of history were inseparable from religion, because religion is intrinsic to the social fabric of nations. Whether the religious divide of future generations runs along fault lines of atheism, agnosticism and religious faith or some other bases or arguments, it is unthinkable that the underlying dynamics of faith and its power to impassion people, will ever cease being a major driver of social transformation.

Learn more about this author, Peter Eleazar.
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