The year was 1774, and elections in England had been moved up due, in large part, to continued and increasing tensions in the American Colonies. The political climate in England was contentious. Churchmen had varying opinions about the future direction that the government should take. John Wesley would meet with the members of the Methodist society that had votes, and give them what turned out to be some excellent and timeless advice on how to vote. This advice is even more important today than ever given the current climate in America. Wesley would record an account of this meeting in his journal: “October 6, 1774 I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy
2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those who voted on the other side.”

The Person Most Worthy

According to Ballotpedia, 38.28% of registered voters are Democrats, 30.35% are Republican, 27.67% are independent, and 3.7% are a smaller party. Those are some pretty significant splits. It shows that, as a whole, Americans are politically divided. That is not necessarily a bad thing, it is simply a thing. The percentage of those registered as politically independent is the highest it has ever been. All of that said however, when it comes to actually casting votes, they overwhelmingly go to either Democrats or Republicans. This is especially strange because, according to Gallup polls, 63% of Americans agree with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the American people that a major third party is needed.
What if we, as the church, actually not only followed Wesley’s advice of voting for the candidate that is most worthy, but actually led the way for others to do the same? Currently, I am leaning toward voting for Peter Sonski for president. Why, he is currently leading the way for the candidate that I have judged most worthy. Unless I am way off base, a lot of you reading this have no idea who he even is, and that is ok. Inevitably, there will those who think this is an exercise in futility, and they are welcomed to that opinion, but for me, it is someone I can vote for and still look at myself in the mirror in the morning. He is who I have judged most worthy. For the most part, we end up settling for voting for the lesser of two evils, forgetting that it is still evil. When deciding who to vote for this election, and for future elections, let’s try to actually vote for who we believe is most worthy instead of who is readily available.

Speak No Evil

I suppose that it is to much to expect our politician to follow that advice regarding each other, but as Christians we can do better. We should not be speaking evil of any of the political options on a personal level, or even on a policy level. We can disagree, we can speak about character, but we do not need to speak evil. I have concerns about the character of both major candidates. I have rather serious disagreements with them on numerous policy issues. Saying so is not speaking evil. The two major candidates lately have been spending more time calling each other weird, than saying much of substance. That is speaking evil.

We need not speak evil of those who voted differently than us either. Whether you are calling those who voted for Trump dumber than a bag of hammers, or calling those who will vote for Harris DEI voters, it is all unnecessary. Not just that, it is damaging to a Christian witness. Those who voted differently than us are not enemies, they simply have different ideas and opinions. If you actually talk to people and get to know them instead of buying what cable news tells you they are, you will likely find that most people are just that- people, trying to figure it out just like you and I.

No Sharpened Spirits

To put it bluntly, we need to stop finding new and creative reasons to not like each other. I stopped counting how many times I have been called a bigot, racist, or some flavor of ‘phobic’ by complete strangers who know nothing about me as a human being. It is not at all uncommon in this environment. That is not even counting the rare occasions that I make the mistake of watching cable news. The worst part about it is that the most vile insults and slurs have come from other brothers and sisters in the Christian faith. We have gotten far to used to making broad assumptions about people we think of as enemies, when we should be getting to know people and thinking of them as neighbors. The reality is that we are all a lot more alike than we probably realize. Most often we have the same basic goals and dreams, we just have different ideas on how to pursue them.

Summing It Up

The same type of polarization that we are experiencing today was present in John Wesley’s time. In any type of republic, there will always be some of this, but it does seem to have reached a fever pitch as of late. Christians need to be helping to tone the rhetoric down, not continuing to ramp it up more. Christians need to be modeling respectful disagreement, and not participating in partisan rancor. Christians need to follow three rather easy pieces of advice.