Evie Wade

Mr. Johnson

US Government

27 February 2024

The Role of Christians in Government

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for

all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all

godliness and holiness.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Paul wrote this to encourage Timothy (and, jointly,

the Ephesian Church) to support the government through prayer, because things fall apart when

the government fails. It is in everyone’s best interests for the government to run efficiently and

democratically, and one of the ways we as Christians can go about this is to participate in

politics. This means that yes, we should vote, and use our gifts to support or work in the

government. Hopefully, all Christians can agree that giving up our say in what the government

does would have devastating consequences.

The majority of politicians in the United States government have made public claims of

faith. Around 88% of the 118th Congress is Christian (Smith), and the current Supreme Court has

six Catholics and two Protestants (Newport). Now, this is not representative of the general

population, since only around 66% of adults in America claim to be Christian (Smith). However,

this may be a good thing, since Christians are more likely to base their decisions and votes on

Biblical truth. Brent Causey, a former military officer who has worked in a major position in the

government for many years, estimates that about 26% of decisions made in government are
based on principles found in the Bible. He bases this on the fact that this is the number of people

in the United States who believe that they are strong Evangelical Christians, and they will vote

for someone who upholds those ideals. Now, what is considered as ‘upholding those ideals’

almost always varies. What policies one person considers as ‘loving your neighbor’ might be

drastically different than what another believes fulfills that. The best way to determine how to

vote in a God-honoring way is prayer and research.

Some may protest that, in the alarmingly common case where all options are bad options,

we shouldn’t feel obligated to vote. Brent Causey mentions that he decided to not vote in a

presidential election exactly once, when he felt that neither candidate had any professional

integrity. This makes sense, as we don’t want to align ourselves with flawed policies (Carter).But

this shouldn’t mean that we boycott voting entirely. We, as American citizens, have power over

the government. We elect congressmen and we have a huge part in electing the President, so we

must continually use this power to better America. It is in no way God-honoring to throw in the

towel and dismiss the government as doomed. That benefits no one apart from the corrupt. It is

also not helpful to vote without doing prior research; mindless action is occasionally worse than

no action (Halbrooks). Voting is how we keep the government in check, so Christians should

vote as much as possible.

Church members should also be encouraged to run for office. If someone has received a

spiritual gift of leadership, they should pursue that career. That’s not to say that they should be

forced into that position; it takes a strong will and a lot of resilience to succeed in politics. But if

they feel called to that, then absolutely. They should be supported by the Church as much as

possible.
 The Church also needs to stop letting political party cause divisions. America is polarized

enough as it is; we should be leading by example with our unity and love for each other. Party

shouldn’t even determine how you vote. “It’s dehumanizing in the sense that individuals don’t

seem to matter as much as the party they belong to.” (Halbrooks). Christians should be way more

concerned about a candidate’s beliefs and convictions than party.

Christians should be participating in politics as much as (or even more than) other

citizens. Our country was founded on Christian policies, and it’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t

stray from that.

 Works Cited

“1 Timothy 2 NIV - - Bible Gateway.” Www.biblegateway.com,

www.biblegateway.com/passage/? search=1%20Timothy%202&version=NIV.

“10 Reasons Christians Should Vote in the Election.” Christians in Politics,

www.christiansinpolitics.org.uk/10-reasons-christians-should-vote-in-the-election.

Carter, Joe. “Why Christians Are Not Morally Obligated to Vote.” The Gospel Coalition,

www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-christians-not-obligated-vote/.

Causey, Brent. 15 Feb. 2024.

Halbrooks, Alan. 27 Feb. 2024.

“How Should Christians Vote?” Www.watermark.org, 16 Sept. 2022,

www.watermark.org/blog/how-christians-vote.

Newport, Frank. “The Religion of the Supreme Court Justices.” Gallup.com, 8 Apr. 2022,

news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/391649/religion-supreme-court-justices.aspx.

Smith, Peter. “Religiously, Congress Doesn’t Reflect Modern America, Pew Finds.” PBS

NewsHour, 5 Jan. 2023,

www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/religiously-congress-doesnt-reflect-modern-america-pew

-finds.