How Can Any Christian Support the GOP?

by Gary Vance | Sep 24 2006


Should any Christian support the current version of the GOP? This might seem like an odd question considering how so many have come to think GOP stands for God’s Own Party. The evidence refuting this notion has become overwhelming. The time has come for Christians of every stripe to re-consider whom they endorse and vote for.

Many Democratic candidates have become more open about their religious faith during this election cycle in an attempt to appeal to the Christian values driven voting bloc. Critics on the Right ridicule this effort as being nothing more than shallow and insincere religious grandstanding. These skeptics are obviously fearful that even a minor exodus from the ranks of the once loyal army of conservative Christian voters will cost them dearly. They should be afraid, very afraid. The GOP record has become so broadly defiled that every genuine Christian should readily disavow support for the Republican agenda.

Is the Democratic agenda any more compelling to voters with Christian values than the Republican one? The answer is yes; in spite of the fact that many Christians view most Democrats as being on the wrong side of issues like abortion and gay marriage. Those same Christians need to wake up and realize our Republican Congress and President has not passed or even proposed significant legislation on those volatile issues. The Democratic positions on poverty, healthcare, human rights, the environment, minimum wage, torture and equality for all citizens are much more compatible with genuine Christianity than what the GOP offers.

The GOP has been perpetually deceiving Christian voters with empty talk and promises. Meanwhile, they go about their dirty business of encouraging the rape of our environment, waging an unnecessary war under false pretenses, illegally spying on American citizens while immorally detaining and torturing prisoners in secret gulags. They do all this while cutting taxes on the wealthy, denying a living wage to the working poor, creating unprecedented national debt and slashing funding for vital programs assisting the poor, sick and elderly. This is the harvest reaped from six years of our Republican controlled federal government. Jesus said we would recognize His followers by their fruit. Democrats can and will do better.

There is nothing Christian about this current perverted version of Republicanism. GOP insistence on flying the Christian flag over greed and evil of this magnitude only shows them to be cynical hypocrites at best and blatantly antichrist at worst.


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Sounds like a good angle if you can just get the message out. How many Christians are reading left wing blogs? That is the essential problem of course.

But, if this kind of message gets to Main Stream then maybe things can take off, as it were. Attitudes can change and peoples opinions can be altered. It can be done if the timing and the message converge to produce an effective result.

And, don't forget people just get sick and tired of poiitical parties that do not perform or that have become corrupt. But, how do we know that they have become corrupt if no one tells us that? That is the job of the media to disseminate this kind of information. A left wing blog is one place, but it may only be the starting place to bigger and better things ahead. Why be pessimistic when there is every reason to be optimistic? Shouldn't an article like this one cause one to have hope and to not be filled with despair? I think so.

I say if you are caught in a dark tunnel and you see a glimmer of light. Then that is the direction you should be heading in.

i consider myself to be a christian who truely believes in gods COMPLETE word.

i do NOT support and pretty much despise what the Greedy Ole Party truely stands for.

i think instead of the stars and stripes they should just go ahead and run the dollar bill up the flagpole a begin to salute it.

thier god is mammon NOT the Yaweh/Yeshua god i worship.

the reason socalled christian believers vote gop is as i've stated many times before...........ingnorance and the penchant for being mostly apathetic.

why me worry, i'm gonna be raptured outta here before the shit hits the fan anyway.

god is going to judge them pretty harshly imo.

Rooster,

Good to see your comments. Always a pleasure to bump into a thinking Christian, one who does not support the aims of a political entity like the Republican Party. The Republican elite have really butchered and abused the good Christian. They ( the Christian voter ) seemingly fall so easily for this terrorism and support the State of Israel business. Maybe they (Republicans) just capitalize on the notion that Christians believe the Jews and Christians are chosen and that Israel really is promised land to them. Why are they so damn faithful to this Party though is beyond me. I guess just the promise of support for things like the family, right to life, and anti-homosexual sentiments gets them on board, so to speak.

And, the Republican Party has locked up the market or so it would seem. The Evangelicals appear to be particularly staunch supporters of this Party. I have read elsewhere that the Mormons in Utah are heavy duty Republicans as well.

You say the Christians are apathetic? I have run into many Christians who speak loudly and hold strong opinions. I would not call it apathy per se, but perhaps something else is at work here. Maybe they are just brainwashed by their spiritual leaders. What do you think? These Falwells and Robertsons are not shy about telling the flock who to vote for. Perhaps they introduce a little intimidation as well. You know, something like: " if you do not vote for the Republican Party God will be angry or disappointed in you. " Do you think they would pull some stunts like this just to get people to fall into line? The spiritual leaders delivering the goods, so to speak. Or is this too harsh an assumption? You are the Christian Rooster, I am counting on you to fill in the gaps for us non-Christian ignorant types.

In 2004, the preacher at my church said in a sermon, "you cannot be a Christian and vote for a liberal." Out of respect to my Dad I sat there angry but kept my mouth shut.

I wanted to jump up and shout, "then who are we going to vote for? You can't be a Christian and vote for greedy liars who send our young men off to fight an OIL WAR to make those in the government richer!"

I cannot attend church anymore. I really think there are a lot of churches who owe a lot of money in back taxes.

man...it's a good thing i wasn't there. i think i would have stood up and challenged the preacher right then and there and put him on the spot.
grrrrrrr.

I wanted to and I am mad at myself for not doing so. My dad would have had a heart attack. Literally. I think I would have put him in the grave. That is the ONLY thing that kept me from it.

Many preachers are guilty of the same thing. This is how all the GOP's got most of the religious votes. They are afraid of going to hell for voting for a liberal.

Many, many churches go HUGE donations from the Republican party. Even the ministers can be bought and then they preach to the innocent who do not know.

Geez. So, it is true. I was just speculating you know, trying to make fun of the Evangelicals because it is so easy to do. I used to watch those religious channels just for kicks because that stuff is really unbelievable. But, I was pretty convinced anyway that there was a big connection between Christians and the Republican Party. And, now you have outlined it for me. You have confirmed my suspicions.

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Now, that is really scary stuff. And, this is the twenty first century. You would think we were living in the Middle Ages or something.

First, there are some Christians (not many, but some) who are like rooster. I salute my good friend rooster for his words of wisdom. It must be even more difficult for a sincere Christian to watch the machinations of these pseudo-Christians than it is for us non-believers.

Second, as the daughter of a Southern Baptist Republican, I can relate to what sadie had to do out of respect for her father. He meant more to her than exposing the ignorance of that preacher. That took a lot of courage to just sit there and steam, sadie, but I'd have done the same thing...but at some point, I would make sure the preacher knew how I felt...either in a private meeting or in a letter of protest.

The minister who conducted the funerals of my parents is an old friend of mine. We went to high school together, and he's never pressured me in any way to become a religious person. I was told by a mutual friend that some of the people in his congregation wanted him to get up in the pulpit and endorse George Bush before the 2004 election. He refused. He told these people that he firmly believed in separation of church and state and that politics would not be a part of his ministry. They threatened to leave and take their membership somewhere else. He told them to go and they did.

My friend said they had not been missed and the minister had never wavered from his stance on separation of church and state.

A rare man, indeed.

Catherine

that's the big problem that many christians today don't see cath.

they don't realize that if the u.s. government were to in some way make a sudden declaration under the guise of something like the patriot act that the freedom to worship would no longer be tolerated, they would be totally caught off guard by many of the groups they currently revile who would be up in arms, like the ACLU, ready to defend them.

they just don't understand the truth.

the problem is that christians are equating their faith with politics. in other words, christians are being "taught" that to be a good christian you must have the same values as the right wing.