:: inamirrordimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

As I begin phase one of my experiment to dig into the reasons an Evangelical may vote for McCain or Obama, I’d like to add the qualifier that I’m merely offering my own justifications and reasoning, which means I don’t speak for all Evangelicals. I’m merely presenting scenarios in which an Evangelical could feasibly vote for either of them. You’re welcome to play along in the comments. I’m especially interested in seeing McCain supporters to pretend they’re voting for Obama and vise versa. I’m trying to be as hypothetical as possible.

So if I, an Evangelical Christian, was going to vote for McCain…

Health Care

It is not possible for our government to provide health care for every single person. McCain is a pragmatist who knows this. A common theme for many of these issues is the need for the government to let nonprofits, including churches, address some of these concerns. We don’t need a bigger government, especially since some of the funds for health care may very well end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians and those who play the system to their advantage.

Economy

McCain’s weak point is the economy, though his advisors have developed simple plans to keep regulators away from business growth and allowing our economy to fix itself. It’s not the job of the government to fix all of the injustices that happen in our world. Christians should be involved in addressing injustices, and hopefully McCain will beef up the Faith-Based Initiatives to help them accomplish this goal.

Energy
The science on global warming has been called into question, though it can’t hurt to gradually regulate some of our greenhouse gas emissions. McCain’s plan to boost nuclear power is basically sound and is the best option in a narrow field of choices. As a good steward of creation we need not give climate change and our energy options too much consideration since all we have are speculative computer simulations.

Taxes
McCain’s commitment to continue middle class tax cuts is appealing, and even if the tax cuts to the wealthy may strike some as unjust, we need to encourage growth, investment, and spending. This is the only way to keep the economy running at a healthy pace.

Iraq
McCain is a strong leader who has a sense of duty, in particular that Iraq is a mess we made from our own mismanagement and incompetence. Instead of a vague plan for withdrawal, McCain is committed to seeing Iraq emerge as a stable democracy. It is immoral to consider withdrawing from Iraq after we destabilized it.

Moral Values
McCain is no angel, but he is committed to supporting the pro life cause. Even if we may not expect too much from him, at least the pro choice movement will not gain ground under his watch. McCain needs Evangelical support, and so we will find him a ready ally in keeping America on a moral course.  

Illegal immigration
McCain is once again a pragmatist on this issue trying to provide a compassionate and fair approach. In my concern to be kind to foreigners, as commanded by scripture, I find McCain’s bi-partisan approach a feasible path forward.

Terrorism

While McCain’s war record is commendable, I take a slightly different angle. I basically agree with Wesley Clark’s main point, even if I would never have said it the same way. McCain was not part of the high command in the military (such as George Washington, US Grant, Eisenhower, etc), and so he really has not been trained to be “commander in chief” per se. However his military experience shows his strength of character and commitment to his country. Also, the fact that he was tortured may be a helpful guide in the decisions he makes in the war on terror.

So there you have my hypothetical scenario: If I voted for John McCain. You’re welcome to play along, listing your reasons for voting for McCain.

Up next, I’ll look at Barack Obama on the same issues.

Based on a USA Today Gallup Poll, the following were selected as the key issues for the presidential campaign:

Who would do a better job on: Issue Obama McCain Health care 51% 26% Economy 48% 32% Energy 47% 28% Taxes 44% 35% Iraq 43% 43% Moral values 40% 39% Illegal immigration 34% 36% Terrorism 33% 52% Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,625 adults June 15-19. Margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points.

If these are the issues we have before us, then how will Evangelicals balance their priorities among these issues? One could argue for a moral angle on each issue, even if there’s a separate “moral values” slot, which I’m guessing covers abortion and other conservative favorites.

In light of the upcoming election, I’d like to play a bit of a game. I’m going to pretend that I’m actually voting for each candidate, and then I will provide reasons for my choice of each. My angle will be one of a political moderate or independent, committed to his Evangelical faith. In other words, I’m going to play swing voter and try to discover what is appealing about each candidate. Since we have so many issues out there, I’m going to focus on the issues in this list.

My readers are welcome to play along, however, the rule is this, you can comment on why an issue doesn’t matter to you or why a candidate’s weakness in one area causes you to look elsewhere, but our goal is to map out scenarios, believable scenarios, in which an Evangelical Christian could feasibly vote for each candidate.

Game on!

A group of Evangelicals recently released a manifesto detailing some goals for Evangelicals today that include recommitting our focus on the Gospel, untangling ourselves from partisan politics, and immersing ourselves in social justice–by way of naming a few points from a rather lengthy and complex document. I appreciate what they’re trying to do and I respect those who wrote and signed it. Evangelicals are such a slippery, diverse, and evolving movement that no one document or group could hope to exhaustively catch every nuance (though some have pointed out faults).

The reason for the Manifesto is as follows:

“For those who are Evangelicals, the deepest purpose of the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ.”

Not a bad goal. Not a bad document from what I’ve read and read about it. Not a bad call for the leaders who wanted to set a new course since leaders are supposed to stick their necks out, take the lead, and let others follow. On the plus side, we now have an official document we can point to if we’re accused of being too political or lacking in compassion. We can now say, “Look, we’ve got people trying to steer us on a new course.” It’s worth a shot!

While we could pick this thing apart all day and snipe at bits and pieces… I have one concern. Do we really think America is the center of Christianity today? Well, it’s the center of the magazine Christianity Today, but I’m wondering if India, South Africa, and heck the whole continent of South America may have something to teach us since there are plenty of Evangelicals there (Mark Knoll says as much in beginning of The Rise of Evangelicalism). The Evangelical movement may have started in Europe and then moved over to America, but we’re not the only ones living this stuff.

When the Nicene Creed was written, Christians from all over the known world gathered together. Travel was tough and treacherous in those days. With e-mail it wouldn’t be that hard to include some global voices in the statement. I’m guessing we would have ended up with a better notion of how to mix faith and justice together and a lot more about the role of the Holy Spirit. Just a hunch.

It’s funny, we really want to change the course of Evangelicalism in America, but we’re not seeking help from those who can help us the most. Ah, the American “can-do” spirit!