This question doesn’t seem as exciting as some that I have answered so far, but I guess if there’s a new question every week, they can’t all be exciting, right?
The first time I remember being aware of politics was when I was six years old and living in San Diego, CA (1976). I didn’t understand much of anything, but I knew it was election time for the President of the United States and my parents voted for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter, so I wanted Gerald Ford to “win”. Not only did he not win, but reading history now as an adult, I don’t think our country won in that election, either!
The first time I remember thinking politically was in 1988. The Sunday School teacher of the class I attended was very patriotic and quite political. That year, evangelist Pat Robertson was one of several who ran for the Republican nomination for President. I was taking a political science class in junior college where we had the option of writing a paper or volunteering for a political candidate. I volunteered for Pat Robertson’s campaign. My Sunday School teacher had converted part of his lawnmower shop and used it as a local campaign volunteer center. I spent a several hours there making phone calls encouraging residents of our Iowa county to attend their local meeting to vote.
I did not and do not fully understand the Iowa caucus process (furthermore, I do not know if it is the same today or not). When we were voting for a candidate to represent our party (the Republican party), we went to a person’s home near us. (There was a name for these meetings, but I cannot remember what it was.) Everybody was allowed to make a “speech” as to why their choice should be the party’s candidate. After that, we voted. I do not remember who got the most votes from our group, but it was not Pat Robertson. My understanding is, somebody from our group went to the caucus and cast a vote for the candidate our group voted for. These votes are the ones that determined our party’s nomination from the state of Iowa.
Because I was taking a political science class and because I was volunteering for a candidate, this was the first time I paid real attention to an election. I remember my political science teacher was not a conservative (liberal/conservative are labels I use now, but at the time I just knew he thought about most political issues differently than I did). As I mentioned in a previous post, back then students were allowed to have different opinions. When my professor heard I was volunteering for the Robertson campaign, he said he would like to hear more about Robertson, what I saw in him, etc., so he invited me to his office one day after school. The climate then was SO much different than it is now. My professor was a PhD and obviously would have been able to talk circles around any thoughts a freshman-just-starting-to-think-politically could express, but he asked questions, listened and was very respectful of my simple, incomplete answers. I remember sharing with him my observation about liberal bias in the media. He, of course, did not agree with my observations. As an adult living in today’s political culture, I am in shock of how kind and respectful my professor was to my conservative political opinions. At that time in my life, I was still forming and trying to understand my own political views so I’m sure my arguments were pretty weak (to put it kindly), yet Dr. Fryer showed me the utmost respect.
Sometime during college, I discovered Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I did not listen regularly, but when I did hear him, I remember thinking everything he said “made sense” to me. Around the time Bill Clinton became President, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh enough to know what was going on politically and I was a definitely a conservative. I think back then I would just have called myself a Republican. I now refer to myself as a conservative because issues are more important than party to me (but yes, the Republican party is the one closest to my conservative beliefs and opinions).
I have voted Republican every election since I was old enough to vote. I became more “serious” in politics when George W Bush became President. When President Obama was elected to office and I saw how he divided America, my conservative political opinions became much stronger. This man had a unique opportunity to draw our nation together racially, but instead, he used his opportunity to RIP OPEN a divide in our country that continues to this day.
My strong opposition to President Obama and my strong support of President Trump, led by my conservative beliefs (shaped by my faith) led to a very tight bond (in my mind) between my faith and my politics. I was unashamedly Christian and Republican because I believed that the Republican party platform most closely aligned with biblical values. This led to political posts on social media, and, for a while, I was of the outspoken opinion that Christians should be involved in politics (as Republicans, of course) because our form of government and the freedoms it gave us was a gift from God. As good stewards (both American stewards and Christian stewards), we should treasure and defend the gift God gave us.
During this time, several people in our church were very political…some from both sides of the aisle. I had several discussions with church friends who had differing political opinions than mine, but I started to notice that my political opinions and discussions made me like certain people less. When I would see them on a Sunday morning, my first thought would be of their political opinions, and I did not love them as Christ called us to love one another. Not long after this, some people left our church because their political opinions did not match those of the majority of our church. WOW…what a failure on my part and on our church’s part!
The tragedy of people leaving our church opened my eyes. I was personally convicted even though I am sure these people would say I was not one who ran them off. As I began to repent before God, I realized how many, including myself, used politics to judge others. Not only that, but if this ran Christians out of our church, how did we ever hope to make our church a welcoming place for unchurched people who would likely have different political opinions? How could we tell them about Jesus if we were making “correct” political opinions a requirement for friendship and acceptance? That is pretty much the opposite of the world knowing us by our love!
Because of this, I have stopped making political comments on social media and I do not engage with others who do. First of all, I want EVERYBODY to know Jesus and if my politics keep people from hearing me talk about Jesus…well, I just don’t need to talk about politics. Secondly, I have yet to see one single person change their mind during or after an online political debate. For me, I have to choose between loving all people and having political discussions/debates. I choose to love people.
The older I get, the more conservative I get in my political beliefs and sometimes it is hard for me to keep quiet in public discussions. But the more I see the brokenness in our fallen world, the more I want people to meet Jesus. My hope for our world lies in Jesus, not in a man-made political party. In a culture that is SO divided, I choose to try finding common ground with people and showing them respect, love and, most of all, Jesus.
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