Could I vote for a President who was of a different religion than mine or an Atheist?

Yes, I could. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘Just how can a Christian vote for a person of a different religion or even worse an Atheist?'



The reason for me is quite simple: All gifts an individual has were created by God; even those gifts possessed by non-christians.



So to me, when considering a candidate, it is actually a comparison of gifts; not a statement of Religion. In short, I will choose the most gifted candidate possible regardless of religion. This example presents the same dilemmas when I am considering a surgeon. Does the surgeon’s religion rank foremost or does his/her experience? Would you prefer a Christian surgeon who just completed his/her residency or would you prefer a surgeon with thousands of successful surgeries but happens to be a Muslim. In an ideal world, I would prefer an experienced Christian surgeon; but if given a non-ideal situation, I would choose the experienced Muslim surgeon over a non-experienced Christian one without even blinking.



Also, let me add another point, does being a Christian guarantee competency, or on the flipside, does being a non-christian guarantee ineptitude? If you answer no to this question then you are essentially in agreement that the question of whom to choose is ultimately a question of ineptitude versus competency.



So when considering a Presidential Candidate, shouldn’t the underlying questions be who can lead us in the areas of better foreign policy, economics, national security, etc……..?

Part 1

I was flipping through the T.V. channels the other day, and I saw a minister talking with Kenneth Copeland. The subject was, how a Christian should make a voting decision in the upcoming Presidential Election. I was intrigued, so I watched. As the basis of his argument, he used the Ten Commandments, starting with the first few commandments that deal specifically with God, such as, ‘ I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me’. Predictably, he used this to say that the candidate he votes for should be decidely for prayer in school. He also used the commandment, ‘You shall not kill’. And predictably again, he used this to say that the candidate he votes for should be Pro-Life.



But then he summed up his argument as stating that these were the issues most important to God. He went on to say that these issues were more important than issues like say…..the Environment, Civil Rights and the Economy..



WHOA!!!!!! I am a Christian, and truthfully I have a hard time with these concepts and I’ll explain why.



The first, second, last and any job in between of any President is to exhibit effective leadership. And to elect or not elect a President, solely or mostly on the abortion issue is to greatly diminish his/her effectiveness attaining more important goals. Look, from 2000-2008, we had a pro-choice president that even had appointments to the Supreme Court and yet still, Roe V. Wade is the law of the land. This should tell both Pro-Lifers and Pro Choicers that Roe V. Wade is never getting overturned. In addition, even in the unlikely event that Roe V. Wade gets overturned, it still would not make abortion illegal in the U.S.



So the new question that needs to be asked by Christians is, what could be the most effective stance I can take in regards to the abortion issue? Could one of the answers be to start programs that lead to a serious decrease in the number of abortions? I guess what I am trying to say is that battles need to be fought as to their effectiveness and not solely off of an ineffective soapbox. Think about it, what if the battles were fought to measurable impact? What if at the end of a given year Pro-lifers’ could say that because of intervention programs legislated by them there were 1 million fewer abortions this year than the last? That, my friend, would be effective and it would do God’s Work.



Part 2…… Could I vote for a President of another religion or an Atheist?