I’m not a fan of single-issue voting, especially the kind that seeks to intimidate and impose one person or group’s convictions on another. Like other forms of fundamentalism, it tends to oversimplify reality, ignore a forest of other issues, dumb people down into clones, alienate upcoming generations who prioritize differently, and judge others who don’t think as they do.
As a fresh example, a few weeks ago one of my baby-boomer friends posted a John MacArthur quote that said, “If you are a Christian, you cannot vote for a person or party that slays babies in the womb.” The implication was clear: Christians are single-issue voters and that single-issue is abortion. If you vote for the pro-choice candidate or party, you cannot claim to be a Christian or at least your faith is suspect.
In response, another FB friend, a millennial, responded with a simple meme that had a big picture of Trump at the top with this verse underneath: “Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.” (Romans 16:17-18, NLT)
The point of her post? Christians also care about truth and stand against candidates that divide and deceive. Thankfully, in expressing her convictions, she did not imply, as Mr. MacArthur did, that all real Christians must think and vote like her.
In the end, reductionistic, forced groupthink statements like MacArthur’s are rooted more in America’s culture wars than Scripture. Let me explain by using this short, clear statement of the things God hates:
“These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.”
Proverbs 6:16-19, NKJV
Notice that abortion is on the list: “hands that shed innocent blood.” The slaughter of pre-born life certainly qualifies as innocent life. And, make no mistake, it’s an egregious evil and, sadly, also a carefully guarded, foundational platform of the Democratic party. There’s simply no good defense for this and I’ve written in defense of pre-born life many times over the last seven years, especially here.
But let’s be both biblical and honest: There are six other things in this passage that God hates with “a hate emanating from the deepest part of his being.”[1]
Lying for example shows up twice on the list!: “A lying tongue” and “a false witness who speaks lies.”
The most surprising and important thing this passage teaches, however, is this: In Hebrew poetry there is a device called numerical parallelism (e.g. the “six, yes…seven” of this passage) where the stress often seems to be on the final element.[2] Growing up, I heard many sermons on how a “proud look” was first on the list of things God hates. Actually, once you understand how numerical parallelism functions, the thing that God hates the most in this list is the last item: a slanderer or “one who sows discord among brothers.”
So God doesn’t just hate abortion. He also really hates lying—and especially—slander.
Let that soak in a minute. God hates lying and slander the same as or—giving weight to Prov. 6:16-19—more than abortion. The point here is not to diminish the evil of abortion-on-demand. It’s to put a spotlight on the ugly truth that much of the American evangelical church has become an angry, off-putting, and unbiblical single-issue-evil-selector.
In truth, Christians care about a lot of different issues for a variety of reasons. Besides important issues like abortion or truth, there is religious freedom, race, character, immigration, unjust and unpayable Third World debt, climate change, foster-care and adoption, immigration, asylum for refugees, affordable health care, gun violence, the rule of law, democracy, and various wars (Ukraine, Israel, etc.)—just to name a few.
Our stories and perspectives are also so different. As a slightly humorous example, during 2016, one family I knew shared a profound disdain for Trump. Because of this, all voted for Hillary even though they weren’t thrilled about it—all, that is, except one who voted for Trump. When I asked him why, he (another millennial, by the way) said that he was frustrated with the poor candidate choices on both sides of the aisle. His preferred candidate had been John Kasich and although he didn’t like Trump, he thought Trump had the best chance of blowing up the whole dysfunctional two-party system! If that happened, he reasoned, there might be better options and more space for a third-party candidate on the other side. So far, his theory has not played out; however, my purpose in telling this story is to, again, illustrate the many viewpoints that go into people’s voting decisions.
One last thought. A few years ago, another pro-life leader challenged my criticism of conservative Christians using abortion as the single litmus test for voting decisions. He said, “Greg, every person is a single-issue voter. They just prioritize issues differently. When it comes time for them to cast a ballot, their big issue—whether it’s abortion, opposition to Trump, or something else—is going to tip the scales.”
Although I acknowledged his point—a point that agrees with much of what I’ve said above, I still pushed back—and continue to do so—on the inaccuracy of “every person’s a single issue voter.” In reality, for many, it might be two, three, or more issues that tip the scales, not just one.
As a practical corrective to all this, how about we return to simply encouraging people to listen well, think deeply, and vote their conscience? Encouraging responsible citizenship, literacy, and integrity are far better options than telling people how to vote or how a certain tribe thinks they should vote. As a church planter, this thinking is obvious to me. Why in the world, would I want a congregation of single-issue voters that prioritized issues just like I do? A church of all Republicans or all Democrats? No, thank you. I’ll take the diversity, the messy, and the “iron sharpens iron” of a church culture that’s committed to listening, thinking, and growing together. Admittedly, abandoning single-issue voting and false binaries makes life more complicated. With no easy answers, however, our congregations—like thousands of others—will be forced to pray for God’s wisdom and mercy as we make our political choices in a profoundly broken, stunningly beautiful, and complex world.
[1] Tremper Longman III, Proverbs: Baker Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 175.
[2] Ibid. See Prov. 30:18-19 for another clear example.