Must you vote this election? What if one voted for neither Hillary nor Trump? According to a recent report by CBN, many Millennials (the generation aged roughly 18-34) are apathetic, angry and disappointed, and may stay at home on election day.
This may be even more the case for Christian Millenials, who feel morally uncomfortable with both Clinton and Trump. CBN quotes Kirsten Haglund, who says of Millennials:
"I think what you can say generally is that they are just so disturbed about their choices. I think Millennials are really driven by, you know, they're driven by a sense of apathy about what role, about what difference they can really make and what difference government really makes."
Yet Haglund also speaks positively of Christian Millennials whose non-vote stems not from apathy but from a crisis of conscience. Such people still have "a deep sense of purpose when it comes to their role in shaping society."
If there is a third way for Christians to participate on election day, what does it look like?
No 'must' votes?
Many Christians have now openly rejected the idea that one 'must' vote for one of the mainstream candidates. New Testament Professor Darrell L. Bock put it thus: "The choice not to vote for a tornado nor a hurricane reflects a preservation of values about what the church is to be far more important than a four or eight year choice. It is a conscious act intended to speak in the face of injustice coming at us from all sides. There are no musts in this election when it comes to the candidates we have."
Alan Noble, Editor-in-Chief of Christ and Pop Culture, made a similar point well back in June:
"Most conservative evangelicals cannot in good conscience vote for Clinton, and voting for Trump is harmful for our country, conservatism, and our witness to the world — so we must choose to either support a third-party candidate or abstain from voting for president."
Noble later went on to endorse third-party candidate Evan McMullin, knowing that McMullin could never win the election, but as both a protest against Trump and symbol for the kind of conservatism that Noble wants to invest in. It's a choice that looks beyond the current moment of crisis and towards the long term future.
He described a vote for Trump as "a signal to other politicians that the evangelical vote can be gained simply by offering lip-service to a pro-life platform...If we will vote for Trump, who will we not vote for?...Part of the tragedy here is that evangelicals are still a big enough voting bloc that we could prevent either candidate from winning the election."
A vote for Trump he says, is also a deeply damaging witness: "Many of our minority brothers and sisters in Christ are scared, hurt, or threatened by a Trump presidency because of the things he has said and the rabid support of open racists he has received. Listen to their concerns and consider how your public support of Trump might appear to them. If Trump becomes the image of the evangelical presidential candidate, we can expect many young people and minorities to feel further alienated and threatened by the church. "
In Noble's words:
"My objection is to the idea that I must vote for one of two candidates when I believe either will be profoundly harmful to my neighbor. When an election has come to this point, the answer is not to 'hold my nose and vote,' as I have been admonished to do. It requires a drastic action that calls attention to the political and societal rot that brought us here and advocates for a new way forward."
Alternative participation?
Hip Hop artist Sho Baraka wrote for Christianity Today about his refusal to vote for either candidate: "As an African American, I'm marginalised by the lack of compassion on the Right. As a Christian, I'm ostracised by the secularism of the Left."
Baraka sees an alternative way of participating: "Urban Christians are determined to reassert ourselves into the political arena. We refuse to settle for civic engagement that forces us to either neglect our compassion or surrender our convictions. From mass incarceration to the right to life for the unborn, it's time to engage in advocacy that better reflects the love and truth of the gospel.
"Instead of encouraging urban Christians to vote for a false choice this election season, my hope is that we will build a strong base, similar to the Tea Party and the LGBTQ community, that will garner attention from lobbyists, lawmakers, and pundits. The goal is to transcend political parties so that they will no longer be an obstacle. This was the posture of the civil rights movement."
Such approaches highlight other ways to engage. Rather than focusing on one vote every four years, the vision is expanded to something that encompasses far more of our energy. Noble suggests Christians directing their efforts toward local and state level governments who have their own legislative influence and the collective power to restrain an unruly President. Like Baraka, Christians might want to find different ways of advocating for a cause, through social media, working with charities, and public protest and petition.
One example of a tangible Christian 'third way' is Public Faith, a group of Christians which hopes to transcend divisive culture wars, instead providing "A Christian voice for the common good". It aims to display a positive Christian engagement in politics rather than the dogged rhetoric and dubious endorsements that have come to typify the Religious Right. The group, of which Noble was a founding member, describes its vision on its website:
"We believe that neither political withdrawal nor reinvigorated culture wars by Christians will help our nation and communities through the difficult challenges we face. Instead, we seek to offer a different voice: confident and hopeful, equally full of conviction and grace."
However, there are some questions to be asked to those who venture a third way.
There will never be a perfect candidate who satisfies all our criteria of what a good President should be. Our human political systems are broken, limited and often corrupt, but there are no others in this world. As Winston Churchill put it: "Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." We should be hopeful, but we should be wary of being idealistic and refraining our vote until the right candidate or party comes along.
We are called to be salt and light to this broken world, to participate in it, not to ignore it.
There is also a danger that such a stance becomes a cover for apathy. A free vote in society is a rare privilege, something most humans in history, and many still today, do not enjoy. It is a freedom many have died for, and we should not cast it aside lightly. Politics may often seem ineffective, and a vote often even more so, but there is still great power in the political system. Any issue one might care about: education, medical care, poverty, war and peace, social equality – all these can be affected with one's vote.
That said, conscience does matter, and good, wise moral discernment is indispensable for a Christian. Your vote really matters, and so does your integrity.
However one chooses to act on election day, we should take it seriously, and be directed by compassion over apathy, and choose investment over indifference.
