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One's religious faith, rightly understood, certainly ought to effect one's behavior in the public square, particularly one's voting behavior. That being said, religious faith is only rightly understood when it leads to personal conviction about what makes for just and moral private and public behavior. Conviction of this sort must be much more nuanced than merely establishing views on abortion and gay marriage. In reality, religious faith (or a lack there of) is a large part of constructing a world view, which in turn very logically effects voting decisions. A religious faith that is only based on professed belief is hardly faith at all, thus common professed religious faith most certainly ought not to motivate a voter to vote for a particular candidate.

This is a sticky issue given the mass partisan politicization of spirituality that has taken place in this country. It simply must be understood that faith is not partisan, thus while faith ought to inform my voting decisions, it most certainly ought not to make be a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or anything else for that matter. Furthermore, one ought to evaluate candidates on the basis of their actions, not on the basis of their words. It is a well known fact that in this country one cannot get elected president without espousing belief in the Christian God. For this reason, I ought not be impressed with a presidential candidate speaks, whether generically or candidly, about their belief in such a God. That, in my view, is where faith-informed voting gets confused. Faith-informed voting is taken to mean "voting for someone who says they have the same religious beliefs that I do, and vocally opposing someone who does not." As a person of deep spiritual belief and conviction, and as a person weary of the less than flattering caricatures of Christians in the public square (which Christians, sadly, have earned), I find such a shallow understanding of faith-informed voting to be massively troubling. Such an understanding fails to acknowledge the obvious truth that politicians will say whatever will help them get elected.

So then, what is faith-informed voting rightly understood? Faith-informed voting is that which is done on the basis of a world view that is constructed by an understanding of one's religious beliefs. Such a world view can be constructed by Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, or individuals or any other religious conviction. As a Christian I evaluate political candidates by

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