Christian Voter

Another presidential election is upon us and news stories of the two candidates and their faith frequently find their way on the air and on the page. Typically the "news" centers around polling numbers. How candidate "X" is doing with demographic "Z" and so forth. I feel it's lazy journalism to constantly focus on polling and demographics. I think it leads to a lazy and uninformed electorate. Kind of a "Democracy for Dummies" thing.

"You don't want to study issues and make an informed decision? Just study the polling numbers (statistics) and find out how much support a candidate has from your demographic group(s) and vote along with the majority of them!" What a dumb way to decide how to vote. I think investigating poll numbers has a place in the decision making process, but only so far as it leads you to investigate the issues that are attributed to the numbers revealed by the poll.

In my opinion, political polling is simply an instrument used by the political parties to generate momentum for their candidates with individual demographic groups. The news media (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, CBS) use their polling data to influence the election in favor of their favorite candidate.

All that being said... how is a serious Christian supposed to approach this election? I'm not going to get bogged down by declaring what a Christian is or isn't. That's not the focus of this post. I'll let the individual's self identification stand as the yard stick. The focus will be on the candidates stance on issues that afford only one legitimate position based on fundamental human rights and right moral principle. There are issues that afford serious Christians the opportunity to legitimately hold divergent positions such as immigration policy, tax policy, education...

Here is my list of issues that only afford one legitimate position consistent with Cristian faith and morals. In the following weeks I will explain what the one legitimate position is for the Christian voter.

1. Legalized Abortion
2. Embryonic Stem Cell Research
3. Euthanasia ("Mercy Killing, "Assisted Suicide", "Death With Dignity")
4. Human Cloning
5. Homosexual "Marriage"
6. Torture of Prisoners
7. Contraceptive Education