Conservative Christian Voters: Single-Minded to Destruction?
In this country a few issues have been singled out by the conservative Christian voters that make or break a politician. Based on these issues people decide whether a politician is worthy to fill an office.
This is not a terrible idea when the issues are important ones, but this does not seem to be the case with Christian voters. Instead of focusing on healthcare or foreign affairs or taxes these voters tend to choose their politicians based on social issues. The two issues that are the most commonly discussed by Christian voters are abortion and gay marriage.
As a Christian myself I understand where they are coming from, but I am astounded by the extent that some of the Christians I know take it. Recently when I was discussing my dislike of several McCain campaign ads (not McCain, just his campaign ads) a fellow Christian asked me who I was voting for.
When I told her I was leaning toward Obama she seemed shocked. We both attend the same church and have the same moral background. After she got over the shock of someone from this very conservative Christian background wanting to vote for Obama she asked, "How can you vote for someone that doesn't protect unborn children and doesn't recognize marriage as one man and one woman?"
At first I was dumbfounded. I knew that people in my church placed a great amount of importance on these social issues but I was completely unaware that they were the single issues some Christians voted on. I was unaware that the majority of my church felt the need to focus in on these issues instead of others.
Personally I choose to vote based on other issues. I tried to explain to my friend that I believe there are other issues that I find more important and that I believe Obama addresses better than McCain, such as taking care of the poor. Maybe Obama does not exactly agree with the personal beliefs many Christians hold on abortion or gay marriage, but that does not mean he is a devil, or a Muslim, or any other evil or untrue name that he has been called.
Overall I found this interaction to be something I wish did not happen. I wish Christian voters would open their eyes and at least consider other issues concerning the presidential election instead of burying their heads and focusing on a few issues that more than likely will never be reversed to the decision they want. Christian voters could make a huge difference if they focused more on the issues that have the ability to be changed instead of trying to force their own morality on others through the promotion of these two issues.
Published by Amanda Thompson
Freelance writer and photographer living in Memphis, TN. View profile
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3 Comments
Post a CommentBlowHard, I did not mean to imply that Christians only vote on the issues mentioned. I suppose I was too general in saying only "Christian voters" but they minority that votes that way is what I come in contact with most often living here in the Bible belt, where religion and politics are not as segregated (at least in my experiences). I am quite positive that in the grand scheme of things these people are only a small minority of a minority of voters. But among these evangelical conservative Christians, gay marriage and abortion are not a moot point. For many of them these issues are the only points that matter when deciding whether they will vote for a politican. And it was about these people that I was writing and it is with these people where my confusion and annoyance lies. And yes, I hear "Obama is a commie" quite often as well, but often this comes after a discussion of his religious view (where many decide he was, is, and always will be a Muslim).
TM, let me counter this with observations. I AM NOT a Christian. I am an agnostic secular conservative. Your implications are that Christians ONLY vote on the issues you mention. My experience as a 30 year Republican is that religion is almost never mentioned when discussing politics. Now there's a lot of "Obama is a commie," type stuff, but zero discussion of abortion amongst the Republicans I know. That is not to say the extremely devout Christian is not guilty of your allegations, but they are a tiny, tiny minority. 99% of those I know never mention religion, gay marriage or abortion, but "Obama's a commie" is the clearly overriding topic, far and away to the point of making abortion & gay marriage almost moot.
A fresh and interesting political article.