This article was published in the November 2020 issue of The Fort Wayne Lutheran.
By Donna Volmerding
The election of 1860 may have been the most critical election in the history of the United States, but the election of 2020 is the most critical election in our lifetimes.
In this election of hoopla and hype, sometimes it is difficult to sort through all the issues. Sometimes we may even find ourselves burned out, tired of it all, just wishing the election would soon be over.
I think it is time, however, to remind ourselves of the importance of choosing leaders for the greatest nation in the world and of the truly wonderful process we have at our fingertips: the right to vote.
In a world in which countries change governments by force overnight, where despotism and atrocities against human freedoms abound, where people live in constant fear of upheaval, riots and firing squads, we, the American people, have the right to decide the fate of our country through one simple task — voting.
Our Christian liberties are at grave risk, as Christian values, beliefs and expression are removed from the public square. Have we forgotten the words of President John F. Kennedy when he declared in his inaugural speech, “The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God”?
If we are not “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights,” then where do our innate rights come from? If they come from the state, the state can remove them. If they come from God, they cannot be rescinded.
Before you vote, contemplate these considerations. Which candidate and party better understand the moral challenges we face? Which candidate and party better understand that our rights, freedoms and privileges are God-given, not state provided? Is the candidate and/or party supported by groups and organizations that are hostile to Christianity?
The late Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote, in his dissent on Roe vs. Wade, that the court should not depart from the longstanding admonition that it should never “formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is to be applied.”
Courts, and the Supreme Court in particular, are to interpret the law where people disagree as to its meaning.
Activist judges have usurped the rights of lawmakers to decide the laws by which we are governed. Instead, we are forced to live under laws enacted by courts and judges, not elected legislators who answer to the people for the laws they pass.
As Christians, we are losing ground in the culture wars. We are outgunned by autocratic judges who bypass legislative processes and constitutional procedures to make laws that are not of the people, by the people or for the people. This is not the government that our forefathers gave us; this is tyranny.
Activist judges display open hostility to Christians, Christianity and Christian values. At the same time, many Christians are lulled into complacency by misinformation, lies and deception.
What are the primary voting issues of our day? As Christians, they are ensuring our rights to express our faith in the public square and in our public schools, and to present a Christian worldview in all cultural, moral and political discussions.
Our nation was founded on Judeo/Christian principles, justice and morality, and our country will continue to decline until we win the overarching moral battles we face.
We have the honor and the privilege to live in the greatest nation on earth. Let’s not allow her to be destroyed by the enemy within.
Freedom is a hard-won privilege, paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots, and it must be nurtured and protected against all harm. Only a strong, involved, informed electorate can do that. It is easy to become lazy, careless and apathetic, but democracy demands diligence and courage.
Our forefathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor to liberty when they signed the Constitution. Most of them paid dearly, with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to secure that freedom.
The next time you feel a little overburdened with the ballyhoo of an election, remember the wondrous gift we have been given — the gift of deciding our own destiny as a nation and a people. This is a gift that is rare in our world, even today.
Congressional chaplain Peter Marshall wrote: “The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.”
Our country is at a crossroads. Will we choose to live in “the last best hope of earth” (Abraham Lincoln) or a reincarnation of Venezuela?
It is not just our right to vote — it is our sacred duty.
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship.”
Patrick Henry
