A Christian’s Guide to Voting: Religious Liberty

By Jeremy Stalnecker

As we continue our brief video series entitled, “A Christians guide to voting,” I want to bring to you another very, very important issue. Yesterday we talked about what I believe is issue number one-the issue of the Sanctity of Life. And if it is our desire to vote the issues that are important to God instead of the issues that are important to us, certainly that needs to be at the top of the list. There’s another issue though that is extremely important and one that as Christians we have to be concerned about, because God is concerned about it.

That’s this second one. It is Religious Liberty. We know that ensconced in the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, is the right, in addition to some other things, to assemble for religious purposes to worship God as we see fit. As Americans, we can look back on our history in the founding of our nation all the way back to the beginning and understand that the first settlers that came to the United States came for the purpose of religious liberty. They were being oppressed and they wanted to worship God as they saw fit.

There is nothing more American than worshipping God, and nothing more American than worshipping God out of the expression of your heart.

Now we don’t all agree on the same things religiously. We don’t all agree even necessarily on what worship to God looks like. But we should all agree that an issue that is very important to God is the issue of worship to Him. In fact, the Bible tells us we were created to worship Him. As Christians, We not only have the God-given right, but the God-given responsibility to worship Him, and yet we’re living in a day and age where many politicians and others are pushing to remove religious liberty because they say that religious liberty impinges, infringes, takes away the rights of others to do other things. Religious liberty is important they would say, but it’s less important than other liberties and yet it is the very liberty on which our country was founded.

As you look at the political landscape and you ask the question, “who should I vote for or who are the various people that I should vote for what are the issues that I should be concerned about,” be concerned about the issues that are important to God. Be concerned about preserving the right of Americans to worship God as they see fit-out of their conscience out of their hearts out of worship to their Creator.

As we approach the election, please don’t vote the issues that are important to you, vote the issues that are important to God. I hope that what’s important to you and what’s important to God will align but where there is confusion or lack of clarity think Biblically-not emotionally, certainly not culturally, not politically, but Biblically. What is it that God would have me to do? I believe that God would have us as Christians to do all we can to preserve the right to worship Him.

 

(This article is one part of a multi-part series. For the rest, check out Jeremy’s blog: https://jeremystalnecker.com/)