This past week Pope Francis said, “when considering political morality”, “one must vote”. The Pope considers both candidates “evil”. Trump for his stance on immigration and VP Harris for her position on Reproductive Rights, yet he directs us to “Choose…”. His statement upholds God’s granting of “Free Will” as provided for in the bible. Scripture tells us that “Free Will” is taught in Matthew 23:37 and Revelation 22:17. That said, by definition,” free will is the ability to choose”. Therefore, I am using “choice” interchangeably with “free will” for purposes of this writing.
Choice has been exercised since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve willfully chose to disobey in the garden of Eden. Every gospel in both testaments contains accounts of choices and decisions that shaped the course of our Christian faith history. Interestingly, when we search for synonyms, election and vote are two of the many similar words listed. Choice is a God given right that no one has the right to deny to anyone else, most importantly themselves, lest they set themselves above the Lord.
Let us recall that the 1st Freedom of the 1st Amendment in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution is the Freedom of Religion. Religious freedom was the primary reason that drove the Pilgrims to our shores. Quick view, there are an estimated 4,200 religions, two billion or 2/3 western Christian and one billion eastern Hindu (the oldest), Buddhist and Islam. Of those, there are 136 denominations of Christianity, the largest being Catholic. These facts provide the necessary context for the rest of this column.
Recently, we have seen the rise of yet another ultra-conservative movement referred to as “Christian Nationalism”. This term is inherently contradictory. You cannot be both at the same time, unless you declare your national religion to be of a Christian faith, and if so, which one of the 136? A nationalist embraces their governmental structure, a Christian their faith, hence “the separation of church and state”. The minute one qualifies their nationalism with the assignment of an adjective, we undermine our own government by then denying Freedom of Religion.
Movements that use religion to gain control of government are not new. Time and space do not permit a more thorough recount of our world history, so I will confine myself to the past half century. During this time, we saw the rise of the moral majority (which was neither). This gave way to the Evangelical movement that provided a basis for the Tea Party movement. All the while, the Heritage Foundation in the background was crafting what was introduced as the Contract with America (1994). This served as the framework for what we now know as Project 2025. They used divisiveness fueled by hate to undermine the advances toward equity provided for by the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action.
Here’s what they didn’t tell you, and in my view, that the more sinister motive was to lay bare Freedom of Religion and make it vulnerable by denying protections from religious discrimination in three separate ballot initiatives; 1.) Prop 209 California 1996, 2.) I-200 Washington State 1998, and 3.) Prop 2 Michigan 2006. In the second part of the ballot language for all three initiatives, the omission of protections against discrimination based on religion provides an opening to do just that, essentially making religious discrimination legal and undermining our constitution.
Now the only thing left is to completely stack the courts with conservative judges, not unlike what we have experienced with the Supreme Court, which has taken it upon itself to become its own appellate court for which there is no Congressional approval. These are examples of how we now govern by omission. If it doesn’t say we can’t, then we can and do. It used to be, read it; then, it was read between the lines; now, it’s read what isn’t there.
On the other end of the religious institutional spectrum are individuals who feel they have the right to deny people the right to choose by taking candidates off the board by force. At the end of the day, my point is this, let us not relinquish or surrender our God given right to vote to anyone. No one has the right to tell you/us, who and/or how to vote and what to vote for or against. That is between you and God. Remember, not voting is voting. If you are eligible but not registered to vote, please do so.
I will end this the way I started; Pope Francis said “one must vote”.
A chronology of the emergence of Christian Nationalism is titled “Bad Faith” and available on Tubi.
