Why vote? Because the Bible tells us so.

A column on why voting this year is so essential, with a very special guest

On January 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the group Faiths United to Save Democracy launched our 2024 election-year campaign on voter registration and protection. 

I want to share with you a video recording of Monday’s event, which featured a wide variety of leaders who joined the FUSD campaign, making it a multi-racial, multi-faith and multi-generational movement.

My job was to share the spiritual framework for our campaign. I said that not only is democracy at stake, but also our understanding of the “image of God.”

Here is what I said:

Why Vote?

Because the Bible tells us so. No, there wasn’t voting in biblical days or Jesus’ time. But the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible tells us why each of our voices is so precious and important in this world. Faiths United to Save Democracy is much more than a political campaign.

Imagine all the noise around electoral politics these days. But those often shallow, false, and now dangerous voices are literally interrupted by the voice of God in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. “Then God said, Let us make humankind in our Image and after our own Likeness.” Then God did that! And God set the spiritual framework for any earthly talk about human rights, including voting rights. Each of us, all of us are, from the beginning, created in the image of God, and our dignity and worth needs to be respected as such. And in 2024, we all need to remind each other of our God-given value and dignity. 

That means that any and all efforts to restrict or suppress voter registration or voting rights is literally an attack — an assault – on “imago dei” — the image of God. 

So this campaign isn’t just partisan or narrowly political.It is spiritually based, biblically based. We are an imago dei movement. It is true that, in this election year, democracy is now literally at stake. But going deeper for us, it is the image of God that is at stake now, and all of us, all we children of God, need to make our voices heard for the future of a genuinely multi-racial democracy in America. 

There are powerful political forces now at work to prevent the American future from including all of God’s beautifully created diverse human beings. But, we intend to defeat those forces in God’s name! We will fight to win the battle for the soul of America, and to see our better angels prevail over our worst national demons with the Power of God!

On this special day to open up the crucial year of 2024, we remember the wisdom of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who tried to set us straight politically and morally, by reminding us, as he said, “the church is not meant not to be the master of the state, nor the servant of the state, but to be the conscience of the state.” 

Let us, as people of faith, become the conscience of the nation in this decisive year. Let us be the faith factor of this election.

Therefore, any time people tell us that voter registration, or voting rights, or even elections don’t matter; We say, Listen to what God said. You are made in my image. Make your voices heard–and the voices of all those whom you love. Make a difference for my sake!

I also had the blessing of introducing a very special guest at the FUSD event: Stephen Curry, the NBA superstar, sent us a video of how answers the question, “Why Vote?” Steph is far more than a legendary National Basketball Association player, he is also a man of strong faith – and deeply committed to social justice.

Here is Steph’s video. 

Amen!

My new book, “False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy,” is available for preorder.