Because politics is messy, and Jesus doesn’t fit neatly in a (ballot) box.
The premise is simple: It’s not that simple. A lot of Christians would have you believe that their political party of choice is the one that most closely aligns with the Bible. But we’re not taking the easy way out on politics, because Jesus doesn’t fit neatly into a (ballot) box.
Voting isn’t uniquely perfect or easy. If it was, then work, child raising, and driving on the freeway at rush hour would be too. But that’s not the world we live in. Sin made things hard and complicated and messy and painful, and voting isn’t magically immune to that.
If you feel Jesus wouldn’t disagree with at least a few characteristics or stances your party has, then you may be seeing Jesus through the lens of your politics, instead of seeing politics through the lens of Jesus.
What you’ll see here is a series of issues (e.g., abortion, gun rights, the economy) where we look for what Jesus actually said about it (with a reference or references). We’ll then pair His words with political data (e.g., voting records) whenever possible to paint the picture of which party (Republican or Democrat) most closely aligns with Jesus’s words.
To ascertain what Jesus himself said about an issue, we will always start with the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon was his words directly, so we’ll use it to answer his stance on an issue wherever possible (with reference(s)).
If it doesn’t come up in the Sermon on the Mount, we’ll look for Jesus’s comments on it elsewhere.
If Jesus doesn’t say anything about that particular issue (e.g., abortion or guns) at all, we’ll do our best to ascertain His thoughts by what he may have said about related topics (e.g., children for abortion, violence or self-defense for guns).
If Jesus doesn’t say anything about a related topic, we may look to the greater narrative of the Bible and who God is to answer the question - this may be somewhat subjective at times, depending on interpretation.
We all know that politicians will say anything to get your vote, or to discredit their opponent. They will say anything to be portrayed in a way that their current audience wants to hear. So how do we know what they truly stand for? By looking at their votes. So, when looking at an issue and comparing it with what the Bible has to say, we’ll look at voting records of each party in the Senate and House wherever possible. We’ll also look at their stances on related issues. For example, if a party says they are “pro-life,” we’ll look at that holistically, and develop a picture of that party’s stances - by way of voting records - on each facet of that issue.
When voting records aren’t available, we may quote articles from credible sources.
For our purposes, credible sources are publishers that generally report the news with little commentary - just the facts, ma’am. With that, we might consider sources like The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, The Christian Science Monitor, Reason, Reuters, The Hill, or ABC News, but would not consider sources like Breitbart, MSNBC, Huffpost, or Newsmax. We will use the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart when referencing sources other than the votes themselves, staying with sources as close to the center as possible.
The “winner” of an issue is identified when their stance, as evidenced by votes where possible, or by multiple sources, most closely matches the words of Jesus or the greater narrative of the Bible, and when multiple credible (see above) sources indicate that they are known for sharing their stance with love (1 Corinthians 16:14; Ephesians 4:15). While love is rarely shown in politics, we do (or, should) see civility at the very least, and not hatefulness. If multiple sources point to hatefulness, then the party will receive a 0 score. What this means is that if one party is “somewhat right” but is not hateful, where the other party is fully right but hateful, the party that is only “somewhat right” will win the issue. In other words, right stance x wrong tone = wrong.
Our eyes should be fixed on Jesus, not politics - but we believe Christianity can and should play a powerful role in shaping our communities, our country, and our world, and in a way where we’re not obsessed with politics.
The right politics - the things Jesus himself truly stood for - can help the church to do just that, and bring a taste of restoration to a world fractured by sin.
But the wrong politics can easily further the damage, even if we think it’s the right thing.
If you’re willing to set down your partisanship - conscious, or unconscious - and understand what Jesus and the Bible actually have to say on an issue by opening the scripture, and then understanding how the parties actually see that issue by looking at their votes - join us. You might find yourself on the other side of the fence a time or two. But so did Jesus.