I'm Still a Politically Homeless Christian
But not politically unengaged, because loving my neighbor means working for a better, more equitable country
I’ve always been interested in politics. I’ve always been drawn to discussions about right and wrong and proposals to make the world a better place. I’ve always gravitated toward discussions asking why things are the way they are and searching for solutions to our most vexing problems.
And like most people, my early politics mirrored the views of my parents and the other important adults in my life, especially politics driven by my faith as a lifelong Christian.
But as I got older and read more and developed friendships with more diverse groups of people, I came to understand the role of my faith differently. I came to see politics differently. As a Xennial who voted for the first time in 2000, I also came to see the political parties differently, never truly feeling like I fit in either one and increasingly feeling like the GOP I had been taught was safe and just was not what it had always seemed.
Over the years I wandered a long and meandering path, always voting, always paying attention, but never quite feeling like I fit anywhere. I vowed always to vote my conscience, no matter the candidate’s political persuasion. I started researching every person on my ballot to ensure I was voting for the best person for the job, not the letter next to their name. In a moment of personal pettiness, I decided I was never voting for people who were running unopposed, and I still maintain the practice.
While my vote gradually shifted further left, I still didn’t feel comfortable claiming a political party. However, I saw a concerning GOP shift to more extreme candidates, even in down-ballot races that are supposed to be more focused on local politics than national culture war issues. As a child and teenager, I had been taught to believe the most important issue on the ballot was a staunch stance against abortion, but the more I learned about pregnancy and childbirth and everything that fell under the umbrella of abortion, the more I questioned it as a deciding factor in the voting booth. I came to see “pro-life” as an ethic that encompassed so much more than just abortion: living wage, affordable health care, elder care, gun violence prevention, immigration policy reform, the criminal justice system, etc. And the more I read about history and learned through the experiences of my friends, the more influenced I was by Democratic policies that would make all of our lives better.
I became part of a growing number of people who were not just claiming, but embracing, political homelessness. According to Gallup, in 2023, 43% of Americans identified themselves as independents. Like me, they chose not to select a political party as they registered to vote. It’s a movement that continues to change our ever-changing political landscape and has the potential to reform the way we talk about policy and operate as citizens.
Unfortunately, it has also become a way for people to disengage from politics, stating they are more concerned about matters of the heart than the nastiness of the political arena. As a politically homeless Christian, I’m not saying politics don’t matter. I’m not saying we don’t need to pay attention to the political parties. Instead, embracing political homelessness as a Christian means insisting on more accountability for our leaders. It means embracing the complexities of being human and honestly seeking solutions. It means taking our role as citizens living in a democracy seriously and voting in a way that demonstrates our love for all of our neighbors. It means adopting a Micah 6:8 ethic to
Act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
For all the trouble social media has caused, I am thankful for the number of fellow Christians I have met across the different platforms who are also struggling to determine how to best love our fellow citizens in the public sphere. I am thankful to find fellow Christians who have also been called unfaithful at best, heretics at worst, by those whose political and religious identities appear to be permanently entwined.
And I continue to struggle as I watch people I love, who were so instrumental in my own faith formation, using social media to dig into political stances that hurt the very people Jesus called on them to love.
Trying to parse out what the Bible says about a Christian identity in politics is nearly impossible, because the democratic system devised by the Athenian Greeks did not exist when the Old Testament was written. The New Testament disciples and eventually Christians lived under an oppressive empire that had no interest in what they thought about how the Roman emperor should operate. The Israelites and early Christians only ever lived under kings and emperors. Even during the period of the judges, the people had no democratic choice in who would lead them and in how they would do their job.
Yet the Bible has plenty to tell us about how to treat the foreigner, the oppressed, the widowed and orphaned, and others who fall under the category of “the least of these.” As a politically homeless Christian, those are the directives I follow as I decide who to vote for at every level. I know the people I vote for will not be perfect. I know they will disappoint me. But I also know that some will do far less harm than others. Some of those same politicians will do far more good than others. I cannot just look at one issue. I have to look at the whole picture. It may not be a perfect metric, but it’s what I have to work with.
As we got closer to the 2024 election, I really started to hate the images people posted on social media saying “I worship the Lamb, not the elephant or the donkey.” It’s not that I didn’t understand or appreciate the sentiment. I get it. It is comforting to tell ourselves that we worship something bigger than ourselves. We do worship something bigger than ourselves or a political party. God is always on the throne, even during the worst moments of human history.
But it also lets us off the hook for the evil that will be done because of our vote. It denies the very real role politics plays in our lives as we interact with others as friends, parents, and neighbors. As Barack Obama regularly said during the 2024 election, you may not be into politics, but politics is into you. We do not have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines while government policies impact our lives and the lives of our neighbors.
And yes, there is a very fine line between imposing our will on others and caring for our neighbors. How do we know when we are crossing that line?
When our will makes our neighbor’s lives worse, we have crossed it.
When the desire to outlaw abortion leads to women dying in emergency rooms, we have crossed it. When our desire for law and order ignores the needs for police reform that would keep us more safe, we have crossed it. When our concern about personal safety turns gun violence victims into collateral damage, we have crossed it. When our desire for cheap goods continues to funnel money to the super wealthy and away from the middle and lower classes, we have crossed it.
When our will becomes selfish and prevents us from seeing our fellow human beings as image bearers, we have crossed the line.
And standing on the other side of the line while watching loved ones cross it over and over again, has nearly broken me.
Being a politically homeless Christian means occupying online spaces where people talk about how much they hate and fear Trump voters, while realizing you are going to have to navigate holidays with loved ones who occupy a completely different information universe from you. Being a politically homeless Christian means occupying physical spaces with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who do not understand how you can still call yourself a Christian when they have been harmed by those who say they follow Christ. Being a politically homeless Christian often means being on the defensive against questions, and sometimes attacks, from those who want to either understand or criticize everything you say you believe and stand for.
Yet my identity isn’t tied up in a political party or ideology. While I may currently work with one party over another, I see the flaws of each through the lens of an outsider. I don’t equivocate. Both sides of the current political spectrum in America are not the same, especially not in 2024 with a GOP that is shrinking its base and a Democratic Party that has become too big of a tent to satisfy everyone at any given time.
But I’m also aware that the pendulum of history has turned the tides of good vs. evil more than once. The GOP of today is not the same Republican Party that elected Abraham Lincoln. The Democratic Party of today is not the same that fought to protect slavery. Nothing is static. Even when it feels like we are moving backward, progress is a stubborn mistress. She may slow down, but she never stops. It was true of the world of the Old Testament and it is true of us today. One just needs to look at the whole story to see it.
In the end, I want to be on the right side of history. I want to be on the right side of justice. I want to belong to a Christian community that is inviting people to the table instead of slamming doors on those searching for the hope made available in a God who makes all things new.
It is the hope I cling to as I prepare for what is certain to be dark days ahead.
If you want to see how far I’ve come, this is what I wrote about being a politically homeless Christian in 2019.
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