Guide: What The Bible Says About Our Politics
By: Faith Voters
Tags: Christianity, Politics, Policy, Faith, Bible

For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Republicans worked to engage faith voters and ensure their voices were reflected in our public discourse. As Republican outreach increased and certain faith voices that aligned better with Republicans came to dominate the public discourse, Democrats increasingly responded by pushing back against faith and values. But in 2006 and 2008, Democrats adopted a much healthier and more effective strategy with faith outreach, and authentic values-based messaging increasingly became defining features on Democratic campaigns as well. This was good for our nation, helping heal divides, lift up a diversity of voices and faith perspectives, and unifying Americans around hope, not fear. It was good for Democrats, inspiring a broad and truly inclusive coalition of voters that by 2008 had entrusted Democrats with filibuster-proof majorities in Congress and control of the White House. And it was good for Republicans, forcing them to better articulate their values and priorities. Voters had options, and the “God Gap” seemed to be closing.

Sadly, a great deal has changed since that time, and both parties have failed by amplifying largely only those with the loudest voices in the room. On one side, Republicans have a leader who has ridiculed and alienated so many, and on the other, Democrats largely stopped engaging the faithful and seeking to connect through common values, instead merely energizing “the base” by focusing on what divides us.

As a result of this hyper-partisan environment, many faith voters are left feeling stuck between the two parties with no real home.

As we have seen, though, when we say Americans are best understood through demographic and identity characteristics and define ourselves by who we are not, we plant the seeds of fear that never yielded good fruit in America. We all bear responsibility for the environment President Donald Trump thrives in. We need to move forward and learn that our faith vote provides us options — and the Bible provides us instruction.

We need to listen, rather than lecture. We need to find shared values, rather than divisive policies. We should seek after the common good, rather than pandering to the extremes of our “bases.” We need to authentically and humbly pick the Bible back up and re-engage the faithful who make up the majority of the electorate and super majorities of many of the very demographics we claim to care most about.

The Bible is neither Democrat nor Republican, but the language of Scripture calls people to turn their attention away from selfish desire and personal gain and to focus instead on serving God and their neighbors. Furthermore, it models language that speaks with moral clarity and into the political and policy debates currently underway in our country.

This guide is meant to inform and equip, rather than direct. Each section in the Guide presents a collection of scripture passages that speak directly to the conversations our nation is having at this moment. Our hope is that it will add to the growing movement in this country and in the American Church to remember the better angels of our nature.

We will post each section one-by-one, so check out the first chapter: “The Responsibility of the Nation and Its Government to ‘The Least Of These,” then visit our page to find the rest of them!We want to walk through this alongside you, so please join the conversation!