Should any Christian support the current version of the GOP? This might seem like an odd question considering how so many have come to think GOP stands for God's Own Party. The evidence refuting this notion has become overwhelming. The time has come for Christians of every stripe to re-consider whom they endorse and vote for.
Many Democratic candidates have become more open about their religious faith during this election cycle in an attempt to appeal to the Christian values driven voting bloc. Critics on the Right ridicule this effort as being nothing more than shallow and insincere religious grandstanding. These skeptics are obviously fearful that even a minor exodus from the ranks of the once loyal army of conservative Christian voters will cost them dearly. They should be afraid, very afraid. The GOP record has become so broadly defiled that every genuine Christian should readily disavow support for the Republican agenda.
Is the Democratic agenda any more compelling to voters with Christian values than the Republican one? The answer is yes; in spite of the fact that many Christians view most Democrats as being on the wrong side of issues like abortion and gay marriage. Those same Christians need to wake up and realize our Republican Congress and President has not passed or even proposed significant legislation on those volatile issues. The Democratic positions on poverty, healthcare, human rights, the environment, minimum wage, torture and equality for all citizens are much more compatible with genuine Christianity than what the GOP offers.
The GOP has been perpetually deceiving Christian voters with empty talk and promises. Meanwhile, they go about their dirty business of encouraging the rape of our environment, waging an unnecessary war under false pretenses, illegally spying on American citizens while immorally detaining and torturing prisoners in secret gulags. They do all this while cutting taxes on the wealthy, denying a living wage to the working poor, creating unprecedented national debt and slashing funding for vital programs assisting the poor, sick and elderly. This is the harvest reaped from six years of our Republican controlled federal government. Jesus said we would recognize His followers by their fruit. Democrats can and will do better.
There is nothing Christian about this current perverted version of Republicanism. GOP insistence on flying the Christian flag over greed and evil of this magnitude only shows them to be cynical hypocrites at best and blatantly antichrist at worst.
Gary Vance is an evangelical pastor/writer living in rural Tennessee. He is the author of "Wasn't Jesus a Liberal?" and other published essays.
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