An evangelical political operative says a Southern Baptist leader’s advice for Christians to vote for third-party or write-in candidates rather than settling for a “lesser of two evils” is a road map to victory for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton,
American Renewal Project founder David Lane, a born-again Christian activist dubbed by the New York Times as “something of a stealth weapon for the right” said in a Charisma News commentary that while SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty head Russell Moore’s idea “sounds high-minded,” if adhered to “would guarantee a President Hillary Clinton Inauguration on January 20, 2017.”
David Lane
Lane responded to a recent Christian Post headline that read, “Russell Moore: Christians should vote third-party rather than ‘lesser of evils.” The article dealt with an op-ed the SBC agency head wrote for Christianity Today saying that voting for third-party or write-in candidates even if they aren’t expected to win is a way to “participate in the process without endorsing moral evil.”
“Our primary concern is not the election night victory party, but the Judgment Seat of Christ,” Moore wrote.
“When Christians face two clearly immoral options, we cannot rationalize a vote for immorality or injustice just because we deem the alternative to be worse,” Moore said. “This side of the New Jerusalem, we will never have a perfect candidate. But we cannot vote for evil, even if it’s our only option.”
Regardless of their feelings about GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, Lane, who has been organizing pastor get-out-the-vote meetings since the 1990s, said conservative evangelical voters should not downplay the impact of Supreme Court nominees that would continue long after a President Hillary Clinton leaves office.
“The naiveté of evangelical leaders who like to dabble in politics is staggering,” Lane said. “Most lack an elementary understanding of the currency of grass-roots, precinct-level trench warfare. These leaders are politically unarmed. Alas, somebody’s values are going to reign supreme. The sad fact is that, in the civil government arena, most don’t set the temperature, but only report what’s occurring in the loss of religious liberty.”
Lane said Moore’s advice would harm the chances of a reported 500 evangelical pastors running for local government offices such as city council, county commissioner, school board, mayor or state representative in 2016, because a third-party or write-in strategy is “a sure way for defeat up and down the ticket.”
“As we recruit, train and organize to place conservative, principled biblical-based leaders in public office, Christians can no longer sit in the bleachers,” Lane said. “America’s survival depends on it, for virtue is a key component of freedom. We must organize locally and win from the bottom-up instead of the top-down. Christians must begin to win incrementally by taking on small races that are more psychologically winnable.”