Vote For Your Neighbor
A Christian Guide to Any Election
Weeks have passed since I wrote an article describing Jesus as the only savior of our politics.
If you missed it, you can find the article here:
In the article, I mention that we, as Christians, should love our neighbor in how we vote. In this article, I want to take the time to develop this idea further and question why we, as Christians, can affirm that ‘loving thy neighbor’ is, alongside loving God, the highest good, while being a political agent that doesn’t love our neighbor in our vote.
And so, the question has to be asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
When Jesus was asked this question, he described four different neighbors: A neighbor in need, two holy neighbors lacking in compassion (possibly more concerned with pious avoidance of a sin of commission rather than the innocuous sins of omission that seem to be easier to commit*), and a Samaritan neighbor, who, among mention, would have brought a distaste in the mouth of the Jewish people present — think of the ideologically-possessed liberal/conservative being told of their conservative/liberal counterpart as being a merciful neighbor to get the idea.
The neighbor in need isn’t given a background, ethnic or otherwise, because the important thing is the neighbor is in need. Who is a neighbor among us who is in need? A few that come to mind right now are the black community facing systemic racism and police brutality, the LGBTQ community facing discrimination, elderly and other high-risk peoples not being protected by proper Covid-19 precautionary measures, and refugees being separated from their families.
We must also ask the question: What is our neighbor voting for? And then take that answer seriously. Often what happens is those who hold a differing view are demoralized and demonized for holding that view which gives us a reason not to listen. But our neighbors holding different views are made in the image of God just as we are and are capable of holding valid opinions even if those opinions do not align with our own. We must listen to their concerns and have empathy for why those concerns exist in the first place. We cannot love our neighbors while invalidating them, whether we invalidate their beliefs, opinions, or experience.
Lastly, we must vote for our neighbor over voting for our religion. Christ calls us, not to defend our religion, but to defend our neighbor. Indeed, the mark of true religion is that we defend, love, and uplift our neighbors.
Jesus never said we would be known for our love of religion, but Jesus did say we would be known for our love.
This election and every election, Christian, love your neighbor by voting for your neighbor.
*James 4:17 serves as a base-line definition for the sins of omission- “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” (NRSV)
