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What a ridiculous question! Perhaps we should also ask: 'Should one's views on health care influence a citizen's vote?'. Or how about one's views on education, taxation, or war? Anything that shapes a person's views, priorities, and values, will, and should, affect that person's decisions.

If I own a small business, my vote is going to be influenced by the things that small business owners consider to be important. I would automatically assess candidates according to how well they address my priorities. Same if I'm a single parent, a homosexual, a senior citizen, a woman, a father, a lawyer, or a factory worker. Whatever my value system may be, I'm going to be looking for a candidate that promotes my priorities: pensions, lower taxes, abortion laws, a strong economy, good public schools, etc.

If those aspects of my identity shape my decisions, then so should my faith. For example, as a Christian, I'm apt to search for candidates who promote things like: religious freedom, rights of the unborn, marriage between one man and one woman only, and fighting poverty. My vote is my opportunity to influence government decisions, so why wouldn't I vote for someone who shares my values?

Please understand that, in doing this, I'm not necessarily looking for someone of a particular religion, denomination, or other sect. Rather, I'm looking for the person's value system; and the person's professed faith should help me to understand what his/her values are. A professed Christian, unfortunately,may not necessarily share my views on things like: peace, abortion, same-sex marriage, or foreign aid. Therefore, closer scrutiny of the candidate is my responsibility.

The same can be said of voting for a particular political party. It would irresponsible of me to vote for a candidate just because he/she represents a certain party. For one thing, he/she may not be in total agreement with the party line. Secondly, the party itself may not accurately reflect my values and priorities. As a result, I tend to vote for candidates who are highly unlikely to be elected, much less form a majority in government. But they do share most of my values. And as a person of faith, I must follow my conscience rather than popularity or any attempt at "strategic voting".

Does a person's faith determine his/her ability to be a good president/senator/member of parliament, etc.? No. But a person's faith does shape his/her values, priorities, and opinions. Therefore, a person's faith will shape his/her decisions. And what do we elect people to public office for, if not to make decisions on our behalf? Therefore, we ought to elect individuals who are likely to make the decisions that we ourselves would make.

Electing a woman may seem like a good idea, but does she share my values? Electing a black man may seem like a good idea, but does he share my values? Electing a Baptist preacher or a Mormon may seem like a good idea, but do they share my values? Electing a social conservative may seem like a good idea, but does he/she share my values? Finally, even electing an atheist may seem like a good idea, but does he/she share my values?

People of faith ought to make decisions accordingly, but please don't do so blindly just because someone professes a certain faith or lack of faith. The same goes for those who are not people of faith: don't be too quick to judge by categories alone.

Faith is one of several things that influences our decisions, and so it should, or it isn't faith. Faith must always be acted upon in our daily lives, or it isn't faith.

Learn more about this author, Thomas Bailey.
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