A Series on Pursuing Good: Discerning Well-Crafted Policy
An election year can quickly become about candidates. But, we often forget that those candidates and the people who will serve under their administration will run on a platform of policies that affect real people—our kids’ teachers, the clerk at the grocery store, our friends in healthcare, and our aging parents. Avoiding partisan talking points and seriously thinking about these policies from a biblical perspective is paramount to our call to be salt and light. This series of articles will assist you in what to look for and consider as you weigh policies dealing with life, religious liberty, marriage and family, human dignity, and foreign affairs. Together, we can use our voices and our votes to pursue the good of our nation.
Life policy
Religious liberty policy
Human dignity policy
Foreign affairs policy
Protecting society’s foundational institution amid radical culture shifts
As Southern Baptists, we believe that the family is the foundational institution of our society and that God has ordained the family order for our flourishing (BF&M 2000).1https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/#xviii We hold that marriage is between one man and one woman for life, and that children are a blessing to those parents. Parents, then, have been endowed with special rights and responsibilities in the upbringing of their children and are the primary instructors and educators of their children in matters of faith, morality, and virtue.
An Unstable Culture
However, we are living in a culture that has radically rejected these truths. We have repeatedly seen the state insert itself into the family unit, disrupting God’s design and taking over the rights of parents. Through the rise in divorce, we’ve seen families grow increasingly unstable, with more children growing up without the two-parent ideal. As society has given wholesale embrace to the LGBTQ movement, we’ve seen marriage redefined and children pushed into harmful, life-altering procedures if they are experiencing gender dysphoria and confusion. We’ve also witnessed children viewed as property with a right to be owned by parents rather than a blessing and responsibility to steward.
Alongside this cultural shift, many of our lawmakers have pushed forward policies that penalize and ostracize those who disagree. While our conscience protections remain strong in law and in the courts, this has not stopped school boards from hiding information about their child’s chosen gender identity from parents, taxpayer funds from being used for “gender transitions,” or the Biden administration from requiring foster and adoptive parents to “affirm” a child’s chosen gender identity in order to be deemed able to provide “safe and appropriate care.”
Examining Candidates’ Views
As Christians consider their vote this November, it is vital that we examine how our candidates for elected office view these truths about God’s good design for marriage and families. In evaluating our options, we should ask ourselves whether a candidate will push forward policies that:
- strengthen families,
- bolster parental rights,
- safeguard the vulnerable,
- and protect the consciences of Americans who object to the falsehoods of the sexual revolution
Or, will their policies play a role in perpetuating falsehoods, push more children into irreversible harms, and allow the state to come between parents and their children.
It is vital that we examine how our candidates for elected office view these truths about God’s good design for marriage and families.
Hannah Daniel
It is important that we not limit this evaluation to the top of our ballots, though. Yes, the president can have a major effect on policies surrounding gender and sexuality, but so can our members of Congress, state representatives, local officials, and school board members. On these issues in particular, school boards and local officials often have the greatest role to play in creating an environment where families can flourish and parents can raise their children in a way that is consistent with their convictions.
Though Christians may ultimately come to different, good-faith conclusions about who to vote for in any electoral race, it is essential that we be clear-eyed about what our candidates believe on these topics and stand ready to hold them accountable to upholding the truth of God’s design.
