The mid-term elections are weeks away. Amidst all the energy being stirred up, the oldest Biblical commandment might well serve Christians as our paramount guide: Thou shall have no other Gods before me.  

I learned this Exodus 20:3 verse in Sunday school. From day one, we were told it is about something really big, telling us who to follow and who not to. In short, it says our ultimate allegiance is to God alone. 

What does this mean when it comes to election day? As citizens of the United States, we have the responsibility to vote and decide on the shape of our future. When we vote as Christians, we should make these decisions based on our vision of what God calls us to do, not what someone else might threaten us into doing.    

As citizens of the United States, we have the responsibility to vote and decide on the shape of our future. When we vote as Christians, we should make these decisions based on our vision of what God calls us to do, not what someone else might threaten us into doing.    

This biblical claim about our ultimate allegiance to God matters enormously during this particular election season. Voting has never been an easy thing to do. This time, however, the stakes are higher than usual. There is a war brewing in our polling places.  It is possible that ICE officers (or other enforcement personnel) will be at or near our voting stations, their presence meant to intimidate potential voters and drive them away. This is a terrible and illegal situation that we may be forced to confront, and it will be frightening.  

But Christians must remember, our right to freely vote is a blessed gift from God, and in contrast, it is a blatant sin for ICE or anyone else to use fear to deny us our God-given freedoms. In short, present-day Washington is not our God; ICE officers are not messengers of divine decrees. Our moral conscience, guided by faith, is the only touchstone that matters. Our forebearers recognized this and made it flat-out illegal for forces like ICE to scare us into following their mandate. The Constitution is on our side. The Bible is shouting out support!

Scripture’s Tradition of Resisting

Christian Scriptures tell us, again and again, stories of rulers who threaten and coerce people.  In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar builds a golden statue and orders his people to bow down to it. Everyone knows it’s a weird thing to worship gold but they lackadaisically follow the king anyway. 

But three brave, ordinary guys stand up and refuse. They see it’s a farce. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego simply say “no,” even knowing the furnace awaits them.  They see that their arrogant leader is acting like God, and trying to trick everyone into foolish idolatry rather than honest expression. These three men choose to follow the First Commandment. The powers that be are not God, they say. Their gold-obsessed emperor has no clothes.  

In the New Testament, the same story unfolds as the Apostles are hauled before Roman authorities and ordered to stop spreading a message the leaders don’t like. Peter answers bluntly, “We obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).”  The Roman rulers disagree with the Apostles but try as they might, they can’t change their minds. A stubborn faithful lot these Jesus-followers were! It moves me that two millennia ago, people like us recognized that the government could not tell them what was true. Like them, we must be strong and hold to our convictions. 

Barmen’s warning

In May 1934, leaders of Germany’s Confessing Church met at Barmen and issued a declaration against a government regime that demanded the church’s total allegiance. The declaration rejected the idea that any area of life could belong to “other lords” than Christ.

Barmen did not need to name the dictator for people to know who they meant. It applied the First Commandment to a State that had begun to treat loyalty to itself as a sacred duty and dissent as betrayal. Barmen also knew that the cost for disobedience was high, but the writers of Barmen, against great odds, stood strong nonetheless. And with them, countless generations of US citizens of color, immigrants, women and more have bravely bucked the odds and fought against repressive state-forces to secure their free vote. 

The challenge is to ask what is the most faithful, loving choice, rather than bowing down to unrighteous leaders or bowing out of civic involvement altogether.

We are not living in 1934 or 1965 or even 2016, and these comparisons should be made with care. But each example teaches the church to notice early when a government replaces responsible obedience to shared law with supplication to the whims of the ruler. Some might answer this argument by pointing to what Paul says about rulers: “Let every soul be subject unto the (state’s) higher powers” (Romans 13:1). That verse deserves a serious reply, not a dismissal.

Paul’s point is that believing in God and following God’s will does not relieve us from making hard, real-world, political decisions. We all have to do so in a democracy. The challenge is to ask what is the most faithful, loving choice, rather than bowing down to unrighteous leaders or bowing out of civic involvement altogether. We are called to be active in determining our world’s future. Paul urges us: engage out of love and justice and not coercion or force. 

Speak, and do not bow

The First Commandment frees us from more than false worship. It frees us from false fear. If God alone is God, then no federal badge, no detention threat, no terrifying black mask should have the power to silence our voices. That said, it is painful to recognize how high the stakes are for so many, as it was in days past.

And yes, we will render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But our conscience and our votes were never on that list.

If Christians stay true to their scripture and theology during in this election season, the church’s task is clear. Pastors should preach the good word of freedom and courageous action, not fear. Congregations should mobilize to stand beside the neighbors most exposed to intimidation and protect their freedom by becoming poll workers or watchers or simply walking with people who could be threatened.  However Christians choose to show up, every person of faith should keep speaking out about how we should be governed, because that voice was never the State’s to give or take. For the faithful, be who you were called to be! 

And yes, we will render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But our conscience and our votes were never on that list.