Which party should a Christian vote for? Which party should a Christian get involved with?

The way I see it is that depending on where a Christian is at in their walk with God, they will be more inclined towards one party of another. No party will completely satisfy any thinking Christian. Not even the Christian parties (the Christian Democrats and Family First).

Ideally, we should think about the combination of policies and values that any party represents, and we should make our personal decision on what we consider to be the most important issues. This means that some other issues will have to be deemed to be “of lesser importance”. If the one key issue that we feel is really important, is promoted clearly and definitely by a party, then that party will get our support. Or, what seems to happen more often: if a party has a policy we hate, then we will avoid that party and vote for a different one. Often one issue, positively or negatively, can be the whole reason why parities are supported or rejected. All their other policies are relegated to that “lesser issue” status, and one thing determines allegiance or rejection.

Some support the coalition

For example, if a person believes that the most important and pressing issues for Australia are moral concerns and in particular the need to prevent gays from being allowed to marry, then that Christian will probably vote for the coalition. (They might entertain the idea of voting Labor or Family First as well). Support for gay marriage by the Democrats and the Greens will stop this particular Christian from voting for them. It does not matter what other policies those two smaller parties have. The issue is decided on one key policy, and virtually that alone. That “anti-gay-marriage” Christian has to justify not voting for Labor of course, and how they reach their conclusion should depend on a consideration of other policies and values. They might decide that strong economic leadership is needed and feel that the coalition will deliver that better than Labor (for either real or imagined reasons). Other policy issues come into the equation too. This particular Christian voter may not want to support Labor (and even Family First) because of their more gentle policies towards refugees and Aboriginal rights. A strong stand on “border protection” is believed to be needed in the fight against illegal aliens, and so the coalition will win the day. And a clear hostility to ever saying an official “apology” to the Aboriginals of our land, will cement that view. How “Christian” those views really are is up for discussion (in the light of doing good to the alien who dwells among you, and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you…..) but that is besides the point. Perhaps our hypothetical Christian is really upset by the terrible abortion situation in Australia (about 100,000 a year). They might believe (rightly or wrongly)
that the coalition is the best party to stem the tide. I am not persuaded that they are, of course: with their majority in both houses of Parliament, many of their members recently voted with other parties to allow RU486 to be no longer vetoed by their own Health Minister, with the very real likelihood that the drug will be available within a year. The reality is, it seems to me, that Labor and the Coalition and the Greens and the Democrats, all support the current abortion regime of this nation and none of them are going to change anything. To give more counseling to women thinking of having an abortion is tinkering around the edges. None of the parties (not even Family First) are prepared to radically change the current situation.

There are Christians who vote Labor

Of course, some Christians do vote for the Labor Party. Those who vote for the coalition feel that these other Christians have missed the really important things, and are voting for a worse option. But the Christians who vote Labor might well argue that the coalition’s obsession with materialism and their moves towards more concentrated media ownership and greater and greater selling off of public utilities and assets, their obsession with free market enterprise and the growing gap between the rich and the poor as a result – all justify them voting for the Labor party. If a Christian is at that point of their relationship with God where they see social justice issues as the main concern, and the need to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and the need to help workers get better deals, then they might think it best to vote Labor. Even if Labor has not always been as strong on conservative moral issues as the Coalition is believed to be, then that is the “lesser issue” for them. The other things mentioned above are far more important and cause them to tolerate those lesser policies in their favored party.

Some Christians vote Green

And then there are some Christians who vote for the Greens. If a Christian really feels that conservation issues, social justice issues, world poverty issues, and world justice issues are the most important things, then they will probably vote Green. Such a person will put up with some of the other issues that are less than perfectly “Christian” because what they see as the really important issues, will dominate their decision. A Christian might be involved with the Greens because that is where they are at in their Christian walk. They believe that these are the big issues and they are far too important to ignore any more. A concern for the poor, for justice, and for the environment, overwhelms other issues by comparison.

Some other Christians will feel that Green Christians have the wrong balance of issues – the wrong priorities. The more liberal Christians will have the complete opposite: a concern to stop gays from being given the legal status of “married” will override their possible concern for the environment, their concern for justice and their concern for the poor. After all, they might reason in their own minds: the coalition is not devoid of all care in these areas. They might not take them as seriously or passionately, and the concerns of business might override them at times, but they are not totally negligent in those areas. The Green Christian however, is not persuaded by such hopeful talk. They believe that our forests, our water supplies, our foreign policy (in Iraq; East Timor; West Papua; and elsewhere) and our neglect of our own poor and the poor of the world are far bigger issues to fight, than keeping gays unmarried.

Where I am at

All of us have to “accept” some other things (deemed “lesser issues”) as tolerable. I am a Christian Green. In my younger years I was a Christian who voted Labor, and then for a little while I was a Christian who voted for the Democrats. But over the last 8 years of so, I have moved camp. And I put up with supporting a party that does not advocate the usual Christian view on homosexuality (but actually, I do think that it is Christian to accept all people with equality and dignity and respect, even if they are not living as we would personally live or as we believe is best for the individual or society).

It seems to me that Christians who vote for the coalition are all too easily accepting that materialism and the bottom line can be allowed to dominate every decision. They at least accept that such a position is tolerable, so long as certain moral issues are kept under raps. Christian Labor voters put up with less that Christian policies and attitudes there too. They seem to be able to accept the Labor party’s pretty ruthless infighting mechanisms, as well as their cow tailing to big business (like the coalition)…. but they must accept those things so that the “greater good” issues are promoted.

And on a personal level, I have to admit that I really like Bob Brown. He is honest and tells it like it is. We always know what he believes and we may or may not agree, but we are not conned or left in the dark. And what I really like about Bob Brown is that he does care about Australia and the people of this country – and also the people of the world – especially the poor and those treated unjustly. Some fellow Christians have asked me how I can be in a party where the leader is gay. I reply “easily”. I go on to ask them to point to me a leader of any party who is not committing sin, and if they try to, I then tell them they are deceived. Pride, lies, arrogance, greed, personal selfish ambition, fornication, drunkenness, and more…. Why is it ok to support people who do such things, but not support a homosexual? Which leader is sinless? Mr Howard? Mr Beasley?

Personally I hate the war in Iraq. I am appalled at Australia’s treatment of refugees and our ignoring of the West Papuan plight. I hate the way we have stolen the East Timorese oil wells – us! – the richest country in South East Asia – stealing the off shore oil wells from the poorest nation in the region! I hate the way the gambling industry is destroying thousands of families in this country and neither of the big parties are willing to do anything about it. (The Greens have the most radical anti-poker machines policy of any of the parties, because of the damage poker machines are doing to thousands of families – this fact is not usually mentioned by moral crusaders who ridicule other Green’s policies). None of these issues seem to be all that important to the many Australian Christians who continue to vote for the materialistic, business focused, gambling industry supporting, old growth forest decimating, climate change ignoring, Iraq war supporting, coalition. Materialism, aggressive war for personal gain, and greed, are not Christian virtues. Building up treasures on earth that moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, is contrary to the very Christ we claim to follow, according to the Sermon on the Mount.

But that is where I am at in my Christian walk, and the reality is that others are at a different place in their own journey. I would like to think that I am “faithfully responding to Christ as I seek to live for him in this world”, but I am well aware that other Christians will feel as though I have wandered off the path of discipleship and slipped into the surrounding fields (to hug a tree or something…). Who is serving Jesus more faithfully? Liberal voters? Labor voters? Greens voters? We all apparently seek to. We all supposedly want to.

All I can conclude is that we are at different points in our journeys. What is the most important issue or issues we should be concerned about? We don’t agree on that question and so it should come as no surprise that we won’t agree on which party to support.

The end of the matter

Perhaps we need to agree to disagree. We need to display some grace towards others in our common faith. We need to see that it is wise for Christians to be active and involved in all political parties in our modern Australia, so as to be salt and light to those in the different parties. We should seek to serve, and gently influence those around us. We should be spread out over the countryside, not always hanging out together, thinking the same and acting the same.

Hmmm…. That reminds me of an old joke that I will end on. Question: How are Christians like manure? Answer: If you leave them together in a lump for too long, they start to stink, but if you spread them over the countryside, they do some good……

Jim Reiher