Timothy George, “Thoughts on the Upcoming Election,” Colson Center (August 27, 2012)

George serves as the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and chairman of the board of the Colson Center for Worldview. For a number of years, he and Colson would co-write a column for Christianity Today. He is also co-editor with Scott Manetsch, professor of church history at TEDS, of the new series Reformation Commentary on Scripture.

Earlier this year he was asked to address the a group of Southern Baptist pastors regarding the Christian faith and engagement in politics. George was asked a question, which prompted this response: How should an evangelical Christian decide who to support in this election? Below is George’s abbreviated response. (I have included his first sentence and the final exhortation of each of his points.) Please read the whole thing.

1. We should be grateful to live in a representative democracy where the right to vote and the rule of law are respected. Vote!
2. The American republic was founded on a clear distinction between church and state, as the First Amendment shows, but this has never meant the separation of faith from public life. Distinguish!
3. In the Manhattan Declaration, Chuck Colson, Robert George, and I made a public argument, based on biblical wisdom and the right use of reason, that the three most pressing moral issues of our time are the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death, marriage as a lifelong covenantal union of one man and one woman, and religious freedom for all persons. Discern!
4. There is a difference between Christian discernment and partisan politics. Examine!

Regardless of who wins the election in November, the spiritual and moral issues that ought to inform our political acts will remain on the agenda. Pray!