Must you vote GOP to be ‘in line with God’s will’?

All my voting life, close to 50 years long, I have believed that my faith should inform my vote. I have also become sadly accustomed over the years to negative campaign tactics. This is the first that I recall seeing members of the faith community deliver negative campaign materials to church doorsteps, and I must say I am appalled.

Every citizen, whether he/she is a member of my faith community or another or none, has a citizenship responsibility to vote. The human reality is that none of us can perfectly discern what is right in voting or in any other matter. To quote Paul, “We see through a glass darkly.” That suggests to me that our two-party system, and the fact that good people seeking to do God’s will belong to both parties, is God’s way of curtailing the hubris that infects all human action.

If so, how could otherwise anonymous “Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock County Ministers for the Kingdom of Christ” distribute nominally non-partisan material that clearly supports the Republican ticket in Virginia’s statewide races? Even more, how can they accompany that material with a cover letter urging each to vote in a manner believed by the voter to be “in line with God’s will” while also implying that a vote for the Democratic ticket would not be?

I have occasionally in the past, and will in this election as well, vote Republican in some local races, but statewide, I will vote the Democratic ticket. I firmly believe Creigh Deeds and his running mates are best positioned to serve all of Virginia, and not just their party’s base, through the next four years.

They will bring pragmatic problem-solving approaches to Virginia’s concerns, and not allow partisan political ideology to dominate in their work. They will respect even those with whom they disagree. I’m convinced that my votes will be in line with what the “Ministers for the Kingdom of Christ” urged, without being the partisan votes they sought.

Jean Kane
Brightwood