"It's a sin not to vote?"

I had my main post of the afternoon all planned out. I was getting ready to explain why it is that my main field of interest as a professor is gender studies, even though my doctoral degree is in English medieval political and ecclesiastical history. Then, while composing the post below, I visited the home page for All Saints Church, the Episcopal Church upon whose Vestry I once served, whose youth I still work with, and for whose staff and congregants I still have great affection. And there, right on the front, is this:

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

According to our rector, "It is a sin not to vote!" Registering to vote and casting a vote are essential pieces of the election process. It remains one of the most fundamental elements in our democracy. Don't miss this opportunity to read election-related material and to make an informed decision. On Sundays, June 6 and 20, the Peace and Justice Office has arranged for Voter Registration Tables to be set up on the lawn. Please visit the table and register.

Yikes. Jeepers. Cripes. Way to annoy the Mennonite boy.

I'm sympathetic to voter registration drives. I vote regularly myself. But when I became a member of a Mennonite church, I paid serious attention to the sound theological arguments (rooted in historic Anabaptism) against voting. (And I also acknowledge that the same position is held by millions of Jehovah's Witnesses). I posted on this back in March here, and linked to this article from Mennonite Weekly Review.

Here's one excerpt:

John Roth, professor of history at Goshen College and author of Choosing Against War, presented a case for abstention from voting in the upcoming presidential election.

“Love of the enemy is at the heart of our faith,” Roth said. “We would do well to remember that when we vote for the president of the USA, we are voting for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”

Roth believes the differences among presidential candidates are illusory. Any candidate will have an America-first perspective, which is problematic for Anabaptists whose primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ.

“Not voting shows our children that we are citizens of an international kingdom, the kingdom of the body of Christ,” Roth said. (Emphasis is Hugo's)

Most moderate to progressive Mennonites vote, and voting is not unacceptable according to the church's statement of faith. But there's a world of difference between saying (as Mennonites do) "It is not a sin to vote", and saying (as All Saints does now) "It's a sin not to vote"! The former statement permits Christians to participate in civil society, even as they acknowledge that ultimately, civil society is not the vehicle for bringing Christian peace and justice to the world. That job belongs to the church. As the MCUSA statement of faith puts it:

In contrast to the church, governing authorities of the world have been instituted by God for maintaining order in societies. Such governments and other human institutions as servants of God are called to act justly and provide order. But like all such institutions, nations tend to demand total allegiance. They then become idolatrous and rebellious against the will of God. Even at its best, a government cannot act completely according to the justice of God because no nation, except the church, confesses Christ's rule as its foundation.

As Christians we are to respect those in authority and to pray for all people, including those in government, that they also may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We may participate in government or other institutions of society only in ways that do not violate the love and holiness taught by Christ and do not compromise our loyalty to Christ.

The good rector at All Saints (my great friend Ed Bacon) seems to believe that the job of the church is to transform the state. For a good liberal, it's a remarkably Calvinist position! But for Mennonites, real transformation can only happen through the church. It's deeply disconcerting to me that at All Saints, (a church that believes that most of what was once called "sin" is sin no longer), choosing to opt out of the futile task of trying to transform Caesar into Christ is now, in fact, a sin!

I will vote this fall. I will vote for John Kerry. But whether or not I vote, and whether or not I vote for a certain party or candidate, when I vote I will be serving Caesar, not God. I will be rendering to the emperor what is the emperor's, just as I do when I pay my taxes and serve on jury duty and stop at stop signs. But I have profound respect for the historic Anabaptist tradition that refuses to divert the precious energy of believers into the impossible task of civilizing the state.

Comments

[Xrlq]

Ah, but you've forgotten, "if you don't vote, you have no right to complain." I know that's true 'cuz I saw it on a bumper sticker.

[Jonathan Dresner]

If government were still mostly about taxation for defense, I'd find the Mennonite position more plausible, but so much of what government does shapes so much of how we live that I have more sympathy with the All Saints position. I don't support trying to infuse the government with Christian spirit, of course (http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/5370.html) but it seems to me that a faith which seeks to remake the world without taking the state into account as both a subject and object of action is missing a big piece of the puzzle.

The orthodox Mennonite position reminds me of much of Rabbinic law. In order to ensure that the Torah is not violated, rabbis "build a fence around the torah" and prohibit more than is strictly forbidden in order to ensure that we do not wander into sin. For example, the prohibition against meat and milk (goats and goat milk, actually) was extended in late medieval times to include a prohibition against eating chicken with milk. Chickens don't produce milk, but it was feared that someone might either think the Jews were violating the law or that Jews might mistakenly violate the law thinking that it was chicken.

Similarly, the Mennonite prohibition against engagement with the state is based on the fear that the state might prove idolatrous, and so whole avenues of community involvement are shut off to prevent a 'maybe.'

[Hugo]

Indeed, the relationship with the state is a complex one, and few Anabaptists (with the exception of groups like Bruderhof and the Amish) would advocate for total separation.

But there's a difference between community involvement and voting. One can work with the state for good; voting is the process of choosing leaders of the state. There's a major distinction there.

I think apathy is a sin. Despair is also a sin. Failing to vote for one of those reasons is indeed to sin; refusing to vote out of a conviction that following Christ requires that refusal is another thing altogether.

[Joy Paul]

Thanks for pushing the anabaptist viewpoint on this issue. Many Baptists today really do not understand the real issue of separation of church and state and often give tacit approval to trying to build a "Christian society" in our nation.

I agree with your statement that apathy when it comes to voting is wrong. I will be one of those this fall who does not vote. Believe me, it is not because of apathy. I generally favor the more conservative view point, but can't bring myself to vote for the conservatives who are almost always anti-gay.

I believe my stand is consistent with your point, although I arrived at it from a slightly different point of view.

[Ralph Luker]

Excellent post, Hugo.