East Montgomery - News
Faith and voting in the presidential election
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| Worshippers are welcomed to enter Woodridge Baptist Church in Kingwood, but Pastor Greg Wallace explained that "politically free zone." |
By RYAN HICKMAN
The wedge between this presidential election’s two candidates on issues like health care, taxes, foreign policy and the best way to mend the political crisis is stout.
But there’s one topic of political jostling that goes beyond medical insurance plans, quarter of a million dollar taxation plans and when to leave Iraq.
It’s faith and values, which for some is as important as any issue, and for others the most telling in politics.
Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist and author of the book “Faith in the Halls of Power” explained that faith is the most important barometer for understanding voting habits.
“Religion influences peoples’ positions,” Lindsay said during an interview with The Observer. “Going to church trumps every other demographic factor in explaining how people vote. It’s more important than race, socioeconomic status or level of education. The frequency of how much someone attends church dictates whether or not they are going to vote Republican.”
When explaining politics and religion, the buzz term of values voter around election time has come to encompass the issues of abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage.
Lindsay explained that values voter is no more than political parlance for a camp of voters.
“In the media and the academy we use values voter as shorthand for conservative Republican,” he said.
But Lindsay said that values can mean a whole lot more to people of faith.
“I think that the key thing to keep in mind is that political values can be supported by a particular scriptural position,” he said.
Buddy Hicks, local Christian leader of Buddy Hicks Ministries, which founded Fuel Cybercafe and the Humble Skatepark, said someone who follows Christ uses that perspective in everything they do including issues in politics.
“For me, in turns of being a follower of Christ or a Christian, I believe the Bible sees life as a whole not a compartmentalized or duelized or a secular approach,” Hicks explained in an interview.
He said that voting as a Christian isn’t just about issues like abortion, which he is against because he said it is Biblically and constitutionally unsound, but each important topic in the presidential election.
“The budget is a moral issue, the fiscal policy of an individual,” he said. “I believe capitalism is founded in the bible and the free market system is in the Bible.”
Hicks points out that issues of values can touch on everything from how illegal immigrants are manipulated and the welfare system to balancing the budget and Congressional earmarks.
“It’s not a single issue. If you’re a single issue person, you don’t understand,” he said.
And Hicks said that it’s an issue of morality to vote in a political election.
“We think moral is sexual stuff or stealing money but in a democracy there is a responsibility of a Christian to be involved in government.... those are the power centers of culture,” Hicks said. “There is a Biblical responsibility and or a mandate in a democratic public like America to go out and vote and know who it is you are voting for. Vote with intelligence and wisdom.
“I look very careful as a voting record and their life and who they run around with and who they know,” he continued.
Greg Wallace is the pastor at the 2,400-member Woodridge Baptist Church in Kingwood and comes from a family who served in government but his church is what he calls a “politically free zone.”
“I come from a political family and deeply involved in politics but not in my role as a pastor,” Wallace said. “There is never any mention about one political side or another or one candidate or another. It’s not my place to tell them who to vote for.”
Pastor Frank Mazzapica leads New Convenant Church, a non-denominational place of worship in Humble, and also doesn’t utter politics at the pulpit.
“I don’t view my beliefs at all. It’s illegal,” he said referring to the IRS’s stipulation that churches, as tax-free entities, are restricted “from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
Mazzapica said he is also worried about the racial lines that politics goes down in his church of 1,300 members that is made up of 40 percent black, 40 percent white and a smaller number worshippers of Asian descent. He said in general that blacks in his church vote Democrat and whites Republican.
“In multicultural churches like ours, I remind everyone in the church that we’re a family,” he said. “At the end of the day when the election is complete, the last thing I want to see as a pastor is a racial issue. That is a big concern.”
Even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is running as the first black major party nominee for president, Mark Lindsay at Rice said that Obama is breaking ground in another aspect.
“For the first time in modern history, we have a Democratic presidential candidate who is very comfortable using religious rhetoric in his speech,” Lindsay said. “We haven’t seen this since Woodrow Wilson.”
Lindsay said it’s a contrast that is illuminated by Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s reluctance to talk openly about religion.
“I don’t fault him on those issues but he’s much less comfortable talking about religion and politics,” Lindsay said.
The difference between the two religious views was most apparent when Obama wrapped up his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with a line close to that in Hebrews 10:23.
“The person who closed his convention with words of scripture was a Democratic and not a Republican,” Lindsay said.
But it doesn’t mean McCain isn’t getting the support from conservative Republicans, according to Lindsay.
“The evangelical base is as supportive of John McCain as they were of George Bush in 2004,” he explained. “That’s why his decision to appoint Sarah Palin (as vice presidential running mate) was strategically brilliant. John McCain realized one simple reality that no Republican has captured the White House in history without strong support from evangelicals.”
Many of whom attend church every week, another indicator for Lindsay of a Republican voter and something that is engrained in the local culture here.
“When you’re in the Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood area, you don’t ask them if they go to church,” Mazzapica said, “you ask them where they go to church.”
SINGLE ISSUE voter
Paula Amsler of Kingwood is a single issue voter in a presidential election because of where the country is with the issue of life and abortion.
“Seeing as it’s a party line issue between Republicans and Democrats, I’ll be voting Republican because it’s a pro-life party,” she said.
Amsler, a member at St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Kingwood, helped organize an non-denominational, pro-life rally in Kingwood Oct. 12 dubbed Life Chain, where supporters of life stood at West Lake Houston Parkway and Kingwood Drive to recognize the life of the unborn.
Rick Lindholtz, also of Kingwood, has had to look at a traditional values issue as both a father and a pastor.
His son Miles has had juvenile diabetes for 10 years and knows that stem cell research could possibly help his son’s medical problems.
“I have to think very carefully to come down favorably on some stem cell research,” Lindholz said, a pastor who serves Christ The King Lutheran Church in Kingwood as director of communications. “I think there is a case to be made and biblically supported for some forms of stem cell research.”
But Lindholtz won’t hinge his entire vote just on stem cell research or the faith of a particular candidate.
“The day after the election I’m going to seek to be a blessing to the community and people around me,” he said. “I’m not one who says it all goes down hill if my guy doesn’t win because I say God is bigger than an election.”
- Ryan Hickman
JOHN MCCAIN
McCain’s platform does not include specifics on religious faith but does include traditional values issues such as abortion, stem cell research and human dignity.
Believes that the constitutional decision of Roe v. Wade, ensuring abortion’s legality, was a flawed decision that must be overturned and supports adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy.
Opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes but does acknowledge that stem cell research offers hope to those suffering from deadly diseases.
Source: www.johnmccain.com
BARACK OBAMA
Obama addresses faith extensively in his platform with the message: “God is constantly present in our lives, and this presence is a source of hope.”
Backs the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision preserving women’s right and is a consistent champion of reproductive choice.
Believes that stem cell research should be explored to help with life-threatening diseases through research of human embryonic stem cells derived from embryos donated (with consent) from in vitro fertilization clinics.
Source: www.barackobama.com
But there’s one topic of political jostling that goes beyond medical insurance plans, quarter of a million dollar taxation plans and when to leave Iraq.
It’s faith and values, which for some is as important as any issue, and for others the most telling in politics.
Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist and author of the book “Faith in the Halls of Power” explained that faith is the most important barometer for understanding voting habits.
“Religion influences peoples’ positions,” Lindsay said during an interview with The Observer. “Going to church trumps every other demographic factor in explaining how people vote. It’s more important than race, socioeconomic status or level of education. The frequency of how much someone attends church dictates whether or not they are going to vote Republican.”
When explaining politics and religion, the buzz term of values voter around election time has come to encompass the issues of abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage.
Lindsay explained that values voter is no more than political parlance for a camp of voters.
“In the media and the academy we use values voter as shorthand for conservative Republican,” he said.
But Lindsay said that values can mean a whole lot more to people of faith.
“I think that the key thing to keep in mind is that political values can be supported by a particular scriptural position,” he said.
Buddy Hicks, local Christian leader of Buddy Hicks Ministries, which founded Fuel Cybercafe and the Humble Skatepark, said someone who follows Christ uses that perspective in everything they do including issues in politics.
“For me, in turns of being a follower of Christ or a Christian, I believe the Bible sees life as a whole not a compartmentalized or duelized or a secular approach,” Hicks explained in an interview.
He said that voting as a Christian isn’t just about issues like abortion, which he is against because he said it is Biblically and constitutionally unsound, but each important topic in the presidential election.
“The budget is a moral issue, the fiscal policy of an individual,” he said. “I believe capitalism is founded in the bible and the free market system is in the Bible.”
Hicks points out that issues of values can touch on everything from how illegal immigrants are manipulated and the welfare system to balancing the budget and Congressional earmarks.
“It’s not a single issue. If you’re a single issue person, you don’t understand,” he said.
And Hicks said that it’s an issue of morality to vote in a political election.
“We think moral is sexual stuff or stealing money but in a democracy there is a responsibility of a Christian to be involved in government.... those are the power centers of culture,” Hicks said. “There is a Biblical responsibility and or a mandate in a democratic public like America to go out and vote and know who it is you are voting for. Vote with intelligence and wisdom.
“I look very careful as a voting record and their life and who they run around with and who they know,” he continued.
Greg Wallace is the pastor at the 2,400-member Woodridge Baptist Church in Kingwood and comes from a family who served in government but his church is what he calls a “politically free zone.”
“I come from a political family and deeply involved in politics but not in my role as a pastor,” Wallace said. “There is never any mention about one political side or another or one candidate or another. It’s not my place to tell them who to vote for.”
Pastor Frank Mazzapica leads New Convenant Church, a non-denominational place of worship in Humble, and also doesn’t utter politics at the pulpit.
“I don’t view my beliefs at all. It’s illegal,” he said referring to the IRS’s stipulation that churches, as tax-free entities, are restricted “from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
Mazzapica said he is also worried about the racial lines that politics goes down in his church of 1,300 members that is made up of 40 percent black, 40 percent white and a smaller number worshippers of Asian descent. He said in general that blacks in his church vote Democrat and whites Republican.
“In multicultural churches like ours, I remind everyone in the church that we’re a family,” he said. “At the end of the day when the election is complete, the last thing I want to see as a pastor is a racial issue. That is a big concern.”
Even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is running as the first black major party nominee for president, Mark Lindsay at Rice said that Obama is breaking ground in another aspect.
“For the first time in modern history, we have a Democratic presidential candidate who is very comfortable using religious rhetoric in his speech,” Lindsay said. “We haven’t seen this since Woodrow Wilson.”
Lindsay said it’s a contrast that is illuminated by Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s reluctance to talk openly about religion.
“I don’t fault him on those issues but he’s much less comfortable talking about religion and politics,” Lindsay said.
The difference between the two religious views was most apparent when Obama wrapped up his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with a line close to that in Hebrews 10:23.
“The person who closed his convention with words of scripture was a Democratic and not a Republican,” Lindsay said.
But it doesn’t mean McCain isn’t getting the support from conservative Republicans, according to Lindsay.
“The evangelical base is as supportive of John McCain as they were of George Bush in 2004,” he explained. “That’s why his decision to appoint Sarah Palin (as vice presidential running mate) was strategically brilliant. John McCain realized one simple reality that no Republican has captured the White House in history without strong support from evangelicals.”
Many of whom attend church every week, another indicator for Lindsay of a Republican voter and something that is engrained in the local culture here.
“When you’re in the Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood area, you don’t ask them if they go to church,” Mazzapica said, “you ask them where they go to church.”
SINGLE ISSUE voter
Paula Amsler of Kingwood is a single issue voter in a presidential election because of where the country is with the issue of life and abortion.
“Seeing as it’s a party line issue between Republicans and Democrats, I’ll be voting Republican because it’s a pro-life party,” she said.
Amsler, a member at St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Kingwood, helped organize an non-denominational, pro-life rally in Kingwood Oct. 12 dubbed Life Chain, where supporters of life stood at West Lake Houston Parkway and Kingwood Drive to recognize the life of the unborn.
Rick Lindholtz, also of Kingwood, has had to look at a traditional values issue as both a father and a pastor.
His son Miles has had juvenile diabetes for 10 years and knows that stem cell research could possibly help his son’s medical problems.
“I have to think very carefully to come down favorably on some stem cell research,” Lindholz said, a pastor who serves Christ The King Lutheran Church in Kingwood as director of communications. “I think there is a case to be made and biblically supported for some forms of stem cell research.”
But Lindholtz won’t hinge his entire vote just on stem cell research or the faith of a particular candidate.
“The day after the election I’m going to seek to be a blessing to the community and people around me,” he said. “I’m not one who says it all goes down hill if my guy doesn’t win because I say God is bigger than an election.”
- Ryan Hickman
JOHN MCCAIN
McCain’s platform does not include specifics on religious faith but does include traditional values issues such as abortion, stem cell research and human dignity.
Believes that the constitutional decision of Roe v. Wade, ensuring abortion’s legality, was a flawed decision that must be overturned and supports adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy.
Opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes but does acknowledge that stem cell research offers hope to those suffering from deadly diseases.
Source: www.johnmccain.com
BARACK OBAMA
Obama addresses faith extensively in his platform with the message: “God is constantly present in our lives, and this presence is a source of hope.”
Backs the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision preserving women’s right and is a consistent champion of reproductive choice.
Believes that stem cell research should be explored to help with life-threatening diseases through research of human embryonic stem cells derived from embryos donated (with consent) from in vitro fertilization clinics.
Source: www.barackobama.com
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