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Voting is usually seen as a political act. Voting is also an act of faith.
“Faith” and “trust” come from the same Latin word-roots, fides and fidere. So when you go to vote in a primary or general election in 2024, one question I hope you consider is this: Who/what do you trust or have faith in?
This column was inspired by Chapter 3 of Jim Wallis’ new straight-talking book “The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.” He begins with a simple biblical affirmation that, hopefully, is embraced by Jews and Christians alike: “Then God said, Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1: 26) Wallis makes the case that this verse has everything to do with voting rights.
“If we believe that we are, all of us, made in the image of God — imago dei — then denying someone the right to vote is virtually silencing their God-given voice,” affirms Wallis. Denying someone’s vote impacts every facet of our personal and societal lives.
Additionally, the Genesis text is echoed in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Which brings me to consider white Christian nationalism. Voting is a problem for white Christian nationalism. In their very revealing book, “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy,” Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry plainly state that “The more strongly white Americans affirm Christian nationalism, the more likely they were to respond to Trump’s election loss with a view that voting access should be restricted even more.”
This makes me wonder about a current, but fuzzy, buzz term used by too many Republican leaders: election integrity. It seems to be a code-term to promote the lie that Trump won the 2020 election — evidence heavily to the contrary. It strongly implies that millions of votes shouldn’t have counted. Because those voters don’t count because of who they are?
Election integrity reflects any election that is based on democratic principles that guarantee voters are free to vote their consciences. But recently, according to Wallis, Republican-led state legislatures have strayed from that kind of election integrity. In 2021, legislators in 19 states passed 34 laws to restrict voter access and make it harder to vote. Even more dangerously, laws in 14 states could give state legislatures or judges the power to oversee all elections, and even overturn local elections results — if they choose.
“Integrity” comes from the Latin word integritatem. It means “soundness, wholeness, completeness.” What is sound, whole or complete, when voters are restricted from exercising their sacred right to vote for persons or issues they believe will result in a healthier, fuller life?
Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is also a Baptist minister, so he speaks both politics and religion. He understands voting rights as a political issue; but he also understands your right to vote is a religious issue.
It doesn’t violate the separation of church and state.
Rather, he believes voting is a sacred duty and an affirmation that all people are images of God. I agree! He often states that “a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children.”
In Wallis’ new book, Warnock capsulizes the connection between voting and faith this way: “Democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. The notion each of us has within us the spark of the divine … that we were created in the image of God, imago dei.”
Can I get an amen? Vote your faith.
Graves is a retired and refocused United Methodist pastor and a long-time resident of Sandpoint.
