By Zak Zeinert, Chief Photographer
When Election Day finally arrives on Nov. 4, David Vanderpool will not be casting his vote for the next U.S. president. Vanderpool, junior Bible major from Memphis, Tenn., said it is not the duty of a Christian to vote, and he believes they should not. “I won’t force my opinion on someone else but I sincerely believe that if we Christians are going to vote, we should vote for the kingdom’s needs and not for our own country’s,” Vanderpool said.
While many organizations, entities and efforts are pushing the responsibility to vote, not everybody believes voting is the duty of U.S. citizens. Some believe their allegiance lies solely to the kingdom of Heaven and actively choose not to vote or get involved in political matters.
Some people believe it is a dangerous business for Christians to involve themselves in the political realm. They think Christians, while they live in the world, are not of the world. They are not shaped by the world. Their real citizenship is to the kingdom
of God.
Michelle Neese, junior speech pathology major from Peoria, Ill., believes it is the duty of an American to vote and be involved in political matters, but it is not her duty as a Christian.
“I understand how Christians will disagree with that, but I think we have different roles in our life. I think it’s the role of an American, but not necessarily the role of a Christian,” Neese said. She said she does not necessarily feel Christians should not vote, rather she as a Christian feels it is not her responsibility to vote.
The root of the belief in separation of church and state first emerged in the mid-1800s with the Stone-Campbell restoration movement and also was pioneered by David Lipscomb, founder of Lipscomb University.
Unlike Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, who were pacifists, David Lipscomb was not. He once stated the ballot box is as sacred as the alter at church. However during the Civil War, his opinions toward government began to shift. After the war he said anything that would cause professed followers of Christ to go onto a battlefield with hatred in their hearts and
kill each other could not be right. He became a pacifist and a firm believer in the separation of church and state.
This viewpoint, while not the dominant one, did take hold with many people. “Gospel Advocate,” a religious magazine published monthly since 1866, once even contained printed forms that young Church of Christ men could take to the draft board, certifying they were part of a religious group that did not believe in participating in warfare.
The movement mostly was disbanded with the passing of the Sedition Act which forbade any oral attempts to speak against the U.S. government and the war effort. Others disagree with the spiritual separation of church and state.
“I absolutely believe that Christians should vote and be involved in politics,” said Dr. Neal Coates, associate professor of political science. He said he believes everyone, not just Christians, should vote because they are electing one of their peers to make decisions about key issues.
He also believes Christians in particular should vote because it is their God-given ability.
He said that whether they live under a Roman emperor or in the 21st century, Christians could find ways to make the world a better place for God’s creatures.
Coates said it is important for Christians to help other people and also help themselves as opposed to divorcing themselves completely from their surroundings and withdrawing into their own cocoons and not using this oppor- tunity.
“We live in the freest country on earth, a county that has the largest economy and the largest defense, and we have this opportunity whether or how we will use it. We cannot stand on the sidelines,” Coates said.
Grant Vickery, junior English education major from Atlanta, has similar feelings.
“I think that if you’re being honest with yourself and being a good Christian, your civic duty is first,” Vickery said. “There are so many people that don’t have this privilege; you’d be a jerk not to. We owe it to others who can’t vote to participate in our own democratic process.”
Coates agreed with Vickery.
“It’s not specifically whether or not Christians should or shouldn’t vote,” Coates said. “The question is how active should one be? But on the other hand, we must never forget that our kingdom is not the United States. Christians are found in all places around the globe; their main allegiance is to God, not country first. My relationship to God is No. 1 and I’m here to bring him glory”
The separation belief has not entirely vanished though. It still lives on in people like David Vanderpool who said he has only felt this way for about a year. “Jesus says you cannot serve two masters; you must either love the one and hate the other or despise one and adore the other,” Vanderpool said. “Here we are stuck between God and America; which one are we going to serve?”
Vanderpool said he was heavily influenced by the writings of Shane Claiborne, in particular Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President “Irresistible Revolution really changed the way that I act. It really changed my entire life focus on serving the poor. Jesus For President changed the way I think and made me view the kingdom of God as separate from the empire of America,” Vanderpool said.
Vanderpool said he believes Christians are placed in a very integral part of society where they have been given the keys to the kingdom but are forced into a culture where their allegiance is expected to be that of the country. He said if Christians are going to vote, they should choose someone who is going to help the kingdom at large. “Or as Shane Claiborne writes, ‘Why not just write in Jesus for president?'” Vanderpool said.
