It's election time in England, Scotland and Wales this week and for Christians it is a time to take up our responsibility and ensure that the people elected into power best reflect God's commands to love and serve all people, and to care for the vulnerable.

|PIC1|While politicians on the whole strive for good and to serve the common good, what is defined as good is not always measured against the good as defined by the Bible. Likewise, many voters want to vote for the candidate who will do the most 'good' but how that good is defined is not always according to biblical truth.

As important as it is for Christians to vote for certain candidates because they best represent Christian values, it is also important to vote for such candidates to challenge those looking to stir up racial and religious hatred.

As Christians, we may follow Jesus' words and say 'We are not of this world', but we are still in this world and it is important that the existing democratic structures remain democratic and remain vehicles for God's purposes. That can only happen if those who know of God's greater dream to build a world of love ensure that the ones coming into places of power and authority will use that power and authority in the correct way. That must include creating and protecting space for Christians to work as Christians and according to their Christian faith.

"We would encourage politicians to recognise that the Christian faith and faith-based social action have a crucial role in creating a truly socially inclusive society," says CARE for Scotland.

Our vote truly counts. A vote will always have some effect whereas no vote will always have a bad effect. If we don't vote then we share in some of the blame if a bad policy maker gets voted in.

Graham Sparkes, Head of Faith and Unity for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, says: "Decisions made at local level can directly affect the communities in which we live, so how we choose to vote matters! It will help determine the priority we give to caring for the vulnerable, the way our children are educated, and how we use our public spaces. Such issues can have a tremendous impact on the quality of people's lives."

Voting is also a way of ensuring that Christians and Christian organisations have the freedom to work according to their beliefs, crucial at a time when this freedom is being eroded by our very own law and policy-makers.

As CARE for Scotland said: "We believe that Government needs to recognise that there is a spiritual dimension underpinning many of Scotland's social ills and that this can only be addressed by giving faith communities in general, and Christian agencies in particular, the freedom and resources to address this problem."

So why should we vote? Quite simply, we are the ones who know the truth. As Christians we have a responsibility to proclaim the truth. While this can be on a day to day basis among friends or work colleagues or in outreach programmes it can also be at election time.

As Stuart Dew, secretary for Church and Society in the United Reformed Church, said; "We may take different views about which political approach best reflects our Christian calling, but it is important that we do express our views by voting."