Joe Rigney: Our civic duty

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, August 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher

World Opinions Commentator Joe Rigney now on entering the voting booth without fear of those who call themselves progressives.

JOE RIGNEY: In recent months, I’ve described the need for evangelicals to break free from what I’ve called “the progressive gaze.” You know, the imaginary progressive looking over your shoulder who critically evaluates all that you say and do as a Christian. Under the progressive gaze, some Christians feel they must take into account the sensitivities, concerns, hopes, hostilities, and enemies of self-proclaimed progressives.

For many Christians, the progressive gaze affects how we approach the stewardship of our vote, leading to various distortions of what a vote means. For example, many Christians have been taught that we should view our vote in terms of evangelistic witness. Our vote is understood fundamentally as a way of establishing credibility with unbelievers. In this framework, a vote for former President Donald Trump in November would allegedly hinder our Christian witness to the unbelieving world. “The world,” we’re told, “is watching.” But note the implicit assumption beneath this exhortation. “The world” is assumed to be secular and liberal, and thus a vote for Trump will alienate our “presumed” target evangelistic audience.

But if voting is fundamentally about establishing credibility with an evangelistic audience, we might just as reasonably conclude that we should vote for Trump. That would enable evangelism to cultural Christians who rarely attend church but enthusiastically support him. A vote for Trump would signal that we care about their concerns and want to build bridges. In fact, the case might be made that these cultural Christians more closely approximate the New Testament category of “God-fearer.” They might then be regarded as fields that are “white for the harvest,” as Jesus said in John 4:35. Unlike many self-proclaimed progressives, these Americans at least respect the culture and society that Christianity produced in this country.

Consider two different motives for a Trump vote: One, Trump is an American messiah who has no faults and has never done wrong. And two, Trump is better than the high-handed wickedness of the Party of Death and Sexual Insanity. Under the progressive gaze, if you adopt the latter, you will be accused of adopting the former in hopes that you will rethink your vote, or, at the very least, you will keep your intention to yourself so others don’t follow suit.

Instead of viewing one’s vote as a matter of evangelistic witness or total endorsement of a candidate, there is a third option…to view it as a stewardship of one’s civic power in selecting the representative leaders who, once elected, seek to enact a particular agenda.

In our two-party system, this selection is frequently a binary choice. True, there are third parties, and the option to write in other names. But for most of our nation’s history, two parties have determined who runs the agencies, courts, and legislatures. Thus, we must ask some basic questions of parties or candidates. Are they aiming at good or evil as defined by God and His word? Are they attempting to promote and establish justice or injustice, righteousness or rebellion? If they are seeking what is good, then we can consider if the means they propose to achieve their ends are wise and fitting. Having answered such questions, we then compare the two to determine which will better secure justice, order, and the common good. And then we make our choice.

In terms of our motives, we may enthusiastically support a candidate. Or we may simply support a particular platform and administration. Or we may oppose the grave evil in the other party, candidate, and administration. Having made our choice, we enter the voting booth, not underneath the progressive gaze but under the Divine Gaze, seeking with God’s help to faithfully exercise our civic duty in confident reliance upon Him.

I’m Joe Rigney.

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