Note from Marina: In general, my aim is to help you learn to read and love the Bible as your own. I write and teach about Biblical literacy. However, I had a recent post about Christian values and voting in 2020 blow up (in a good way – mostly) on Facebook, and was asked to re-post it here so that it could be shared more widely. I am honored and moved by the opportunity to help others put words to thoughts and feelings they want to voice. You are not alone. We are in this together. All that follows is from the original Facebook post (with a few tiny tweaks to correct my grammar).

I had a friend ask a sincere question about how I could plan to vote for Biden/Harris in November. She asked about “voting my values” and honoring the Christian value on the sanctity of life. She was looking for a real answer, not a fight.

What I am sharing here is my response to her. I share this because 1) I know a lot of other Christians share this point of view and each and every one of us needs to know we are not alone.

2) This is who I am. This is what I believe. I don’t think I’ve got it all 100% right or figured out. In fact, I’m sure I don’t. But I do believe there is space in the Kingdom of God for people who are in process.

3) I also believe the sometimes-present pressure for Christians to be silent and keep quiet about things that are unpleasant, angering, complicated, controversial, etc is out of step with our responsibility to advocate for justice, mercy, and love for all humankind. I am committed to being a peacemaker rather than a peacekeeper.

So, with that, here’s my reply:

<Friend’s Name> – before you read the rest of my reply, please know that I have a lot of heat (read: anger, passion, indignation) about the assumptions behind this line of questioning when it is sometimes posed. Please know that I mean every word I have typed below, but my frustration and anger are not directed at you. I think you are asking a sincere question, and I am doing my best to give a sincere answer.

For me, valuing the sanctity of life means engaging with proactive leadership when thousands of people are dying from the Coronavirus. It means valuing the health and safety of children and teachers in a meaningful and intentional way. It means not putting children in cages, not separating families, and not repeatedly reinforcing harmful racist stereotypes and policies. It means working for equality for people of EVERY background, every skin color, every level of education, every gender, every religion, every everything. EVERY life.

Valuing the sanctity of life – in alignment with my Christian values – prioritizes health for the nations of the world, respects marginalized voices at home and across the globe. That value honors peaceful protestors instead of gassing them, fights against the death penalty, works toward repair and justice in a legal system that systematically and egregiously refuses justice to the poor again and again and again.

Valuing the sanctity of life – which is a value I hold tightly – means leaning IN to the places where we are afraid, where we are different, where we are weak – not pushing against those who have less power. Not refusing refuge to those who are trying desperately to escape violence, persecution, terror, and death.

In my view, valuing the sanctity of human life has less to do with abortion legislation than it does with creating a world where women in vulnerable circumstances (and all women, for that matter) have realistic options that eliminate abortion as a feasible or viable path forward. It means supporting single mothers, supporting justice for the poor, supporting and advocating for those whose voices have historically been given the least recognition and influence.

Valuing the sanctity of life is about much, much more than what someone says they think. It has to do with how they treat the people – all the people – who are living life around them. I have no qualms whatsoever about stating that I do not see Donald Trump as someone who places high value on the sanctity of life. And I reject the reductive narrative that says the only thing that matters when valuing human life is one’s position on a single facet of a much more complex picture.

I will be voting Biden/Harris not because I think they’re the most amazing options in the universe. I have a lot of issues with Joe Biden in particular, and there are plenty of issues on which I disagree with his/their position. But they are the pair that, in my estimation, has worked to value the sanctity of human life in a more meaningful and more comprehensive way (and actually has the ability to win the White House). And their positions support my desire to love like Jesus when it comes to holistic approaches to esteeming humanity, life, and each other.

I will be voting my values in November, and I will not be voting for Donald Trump.

If this resonates with you, please like it. Please share it. Like this [Facebook] page, and comment. Those things help give visibility to this set of ideas.

But MORE importantly: please engage respectfully and humbly with the people in your life who see things differently than you do.

We are ALL in-process and trying to do what we think is right. We all can learn from one another. There is room in Love for each of us to honor each other’s lives and hearts – even when we think someone is on the wrong track.