by the Rev. Dr. Jenifer Copeland, Executive Director
Deep into this presidential election season we are once again saying what we have said for at least the last two—This is the most important election in our lives. Most candidates paint a picture of how awful the world will become if their opponent wins. Some also offer a few policy proposals of how wonderful the world will be when they win, but most of the proposals are short on substance.
This is not really new. Election campaigns are crafted to appeal to individual desire and personal fear. Pollsters spend millions of dollars gathering testimonies that campaign advisors turn into talking points. We, the electors, are primed to hear the candidates’ promises and the political platforms and ask ourselves—will this help me? This strategy is even more effective when a candidate taps into a personal emotional response.
Christians, however, are offered a different playbook through the story of salvation history. Our story has many explanatory chapters, but the whole is summed up by The Great Commandment: Love God, love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18; Luke 10:27; etc.). The story never says, love yourself first and vote for your own best interests.
What would our ballot look like if we cast our votes based on how it would affect our neighbors? Jesus gave us a good definition of neighbor in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus then offered some tangible policies in the story of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46). So, neighbor is the one who needs help. Help needed can look like hunger, thirst, newcomer, nakedness, and imprisonment.
For election purposes, we should consider the causes of the need. A few simple correlations could be:
- Hunger—agribusiness profits, government subsidies, essential exports
- Thirst—chemical dumping, industrial toxins, lead pipes
- Newcomer—immigrants, refugees
- Nakedness—job training, living wages
- Imprisonment—unnecessary bail, mass incarceration, discriminatory use of the death penalty
When we highlight the great themes of scripture, we see clearly God’s preferential option for the poor. There are three groups that show up repeatedly when God tells God’s people who to take care of: widows, orphans, and sojourners.
In the patriarchal world that defined bible times, those were the three most vulnerable groups. Without “a man in the house,” there is no protection. A widow has no husband; a child has no father. And sojourners, also known as travelers, immigrants, refugees, have no one because they are not from around here. Over and over, God names these groups a priority. Widows alone are mentioned over 80 times.
It’s not hard to see how the people we elect have a direct correlation to the things mentioned in scripture. Our job in this election—the most important election in our lives—is to name the most vulnerable people in our midst. They are our neighbors. How do we vote in their best interests?
