Guest commentary by Edward Bowen
I may not support the same presidential candidate as you do, but please don’t hate me. Perhaps more so than in any campaign in recent memory, the leading candidates have each attracted enthusiastic crowds of loyalists who look on them with admiration, approval and devotion. Yet at the same time, the mere mention of those same candidates’ names elicits visceral protests, derision and outright condemnation from others.
As Americans we value our First Amendment rights, particularly the guarantee of freedom of speech. But in the midst of this presidential election happening in an age of Facebook and Twitter, I believe we Presbyterian Christians need to give more consideration to whether we should express certain opinions and viewpoints even if we have the constitutional right to do so.
In particular, officers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – teaching elders, ruling elders, and deacons – have all committed themselves “to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church.” But when church officers post mocking, demeaning and vicious invectives on social media that question the judgment and faith of those who disagree with them as to who should be the next president, are those officers not in violation of their ordination vows? After all, when a church leader proclaims through social media that those who disagree with them politically are not only wrong and misguided, but also sinful and evil, how does that promote the peace and unity of the church? Quite to the contrary, such posts from church leaders only serve to send the message that those who disagree with them have no place in the church – or at least no place in that particular congregation.
The point I raise is not imaginary or theoretical. Throughout this campaign season, social media posts from fellow teaching elders in particular regarding the election have been the most caustic and mean-spirited that I have seen.
Ephesians 4:15 encourages us to speak the truth in love. I believe that many church officers today are speaking what they consider to be the truth, yet the element of love seems to be sorely lacking. Could it be that we all need to seek a greater degree of humility, acknowledging that the political candidates we support are not the angelic deliverers we might be tempted at times to portray them as, while at the same time owning up to the fact that the candidates we do not support are not the corrupt, demonic foes that we sometimes characterize them as?
As we progress through the remainder of this presidential election year, my hope is that we may all come to a deeper appreciation of the reality that truly faithful Christians may have diametrically opposed views when it comes to politics. As we progress through the remainder of this presidential election year, my hope is that love might lead us not to view each other as adversaries to be disparaged. Rather my hope is that love might lead us, even amid our political differences, to discover the peace and unity that is found in Jesus alone.
C. EDWARD BOWEN is a teaching elder in the Presbytery of West Virginia. Currently on medical disability with stage IV cancer, he serves as parish associate for First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, West Virginia, and Cabwaylingo Presbyterian Chapel in Dunlow, West Virginia.
