An evangelical’s defense of voting for Biden
You’re voting for Joe Biden? Wow. Your parents would be so disappointed in you. I’ll be praying for you.
This from my college roommate, someone who has been among my best friends for almost the past two decades. Another close friend and former worship leader mentioned he was preparing bullets — in case he needed to use them against Biden supporters.
I’m an evangelical, and I voted Joe Biden. Saying this is a modern-day equivalent to wearing a scarlet letter. Evangelicals (conservative wings of the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations, along with many “community” and non-denominational churches) consider ourselves to be people of the Book. We believe the Bible is the Word of God, divinely inspired and capable of showing us the will of God for our lives. If the Bible offers a propositional truth claim, it is our responsibility and privilege to accept that claim and orient our lives in obedience.
Like 2016, white evangelicals will once again be the largest group of Donald Trump supporters. In 2016, 81 percent of white evangelicals supported Trump; in 2020 that number is similarly high at 78 percent. Though you will be hard-pressed to find it in scripture, one of those propositional truth claims seems to be that Christians are righteous if they vote Republican and sin if they vote to support the Democrat Party of abortion and socialism. (Protect religious liberty. Protect babies. Vote for Trump. This is the will of God.)
I myself, by worldly standards, am probably considered a decent evangelical. I was homeschooled using a Christian curriculum, played piano on the church praise team and led youth group Bible studies throughout high school. After attending a conservative college, I was a missionary in Southeast Asia. I spent several years studying and working at a Baptist seminary. My wife and I received our license as foster parents in Harris
County and give a portion of each paycheck to support our local church, orphan care, foreign missionaries and clean water initiatives.
Nevertheless, I voted for Joe Biden, and I have been admonished that I need to repent of ongoing sin — that sin being my “liberal streak.” I guess I do have one — I believe that gay people deserve equal rights, that Black lives do indeed matter and that people should wear masks right now. For announcing
each of these sins, along with the chief sin of voting Biden, I have encountered Facebook-wall admonition, concerned texts or outright confrontation from fellow believers.
As a Christian, I believe that my God is in control, even over election processes, and my primary citizenship is in heaven. Nevertheless, I live in a world in which political decisions do matter, and it is incumbent upon each of us to be ambassadors of the kingdom of God on Earth. I should prayerfully consider how a candidate and his or her platform line up with the teachings of scripture and vote for the person who will most faithfully promote policies that honor God and promote shalom (human peace and flourishing). This election, given the two choices presented to us, to me the choice was abundantly clear.
Though many evangelicals will admit that Trump is less than desirable across many categories, at the end of the day they are unwilling to support the Democratic candidate because of a single issue: abortion. If a candidate is pro-choice, that candidate is off-limits, as abortion is equivalent to murder. I am a Christian who believes life begins at conception. As they say, I am “pro-life from womb to tomb.” And as much as I hope I see the day when 850,000-plus domestic abortions per year are a thing of the past, I do believe that a nuanced, “holistic” pro-life view is currently appropriate.
After all, Republicans promise every year that they are running on a pro-life platform, but Republicans voted to provide Planned Parenthood record funding under the Trump administration. . So while we shouldmost definitely consider how a candidate speaks about abortion law, until meaningful legislation is enacted we must consider additional pro-life questions:
Since abortion has not been made illegal, are there programs in place that will reduce the total number of abortions? For example, is there adequate school funding for robust sex-ed programs in at-risk communities, and are contraceptives readily available?
If there are pregnancies that do occur, do we have policies and programs in place to help provide medical care to the mom and the infant?
Will that mother’s pregnancy be safe, or if she is a minority in a high-risk community, will she have a disproportionately high maternal death rate?
Is her health care affordable? Is pregnancy a preexisting condition that precludes her from obtaining insurance?
If she does choose life, does she have the ability still to pursue education or viable work, or are minimum wages so low, and education costs so high, that abortion is the only financially viable option?
The Democratic prochoice platform is egregious to many evangelicals
— and rightfully so. However, until the Republican leadership fulfills their promises to meaningfully engage this issue with robust legislation, I will vote for the party that reduces abortion (despite being pro-choice) through meaningful pro-woman, pro-health-care, pro-education policies, rather than continuing to fall for the abortion-as-dog-whistle Republican tactic. We must hold Republicans accountable for their failed promises. Vote themout until they act.
Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, I plan to take the lead from the man I voted for; as he tweeted in the hours before the polls closed, “Love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. Light is more powerful than dark.”
I will love my friends who supported Trump, and I will love my friends who supported Biden. I will show compassion in victory or grace in defeat. I will continue to pray for the president regardless of who that man is.
I will have hope that in January 2021, the next presidential administration will be one centered on unity and bipartisanship. I will have hope that our country can heal. I will have hope that we can thrive and flourish.
I will pursue light in all things. As a Christian, I will work for God’s kingdom to spread to all places where there is hurting, where there is hopelessness and where there is division.
Let us all strive to be better tomorrow than we are today.