ECN editorial: Vote like creation depended on it!

One of the biggest things we can do to care for God’s creation is to vote today for the candidates whom we believe will do the most to mitigate climate change — and not just in federal elections, but at the state and local levels, too.

The separation of church and state is important, but “church and state” is not the same thing as “faith and politics.” The institutional church cannot and should not endorse candidates, but as individual Christians, our faith shapes our lives — and voting is part of those lives. We do not force our religion on others, but we do use it to guide our own decisions, including voting to love our neighbor and help the common good.

As Episcopalians, we have taken baptismal vows to resist evil, to love our neighbors, and to strive for justice and peace. We don’t set those vows aside on Election Day. Furthermore, to paraphrase the Rev. William Barber of Moral Mondays and Repairers of the Breach, if the church is not concerned with the social conditions that create the pastoral needs of God’s people, then it is committing is a form of malpractice.

Perhaps this is why Scripture speaks so often about issues that are now considered “political,” from poverty to agriculture to immigration (three of the many issues deeply affected by climate change). The church cannot and should not say which candidates will do the most to care for the earth and stand up to fossil fuels and greed, but we can say that this is something we as Christians must consider when we choose our preferred candidates.

So be sure you have a plan to vote your values TODAY, Tuesday, November 6, 2018, if you haven’t been able to early vote already:

• Where is your polling place? Has it changed since the last election?
  • To find out, just visit this polling-place lookup or text “Vote2018” to the Sierra Club at 69866!
• How will you get there?
• What time will you go?
• Perhaps most importantly, can you help anyone who might not otherwise vote, perhaps by offering a ride to the polls or offering babysitting services to a parent who can’t get out of the house?