With the U.S. presidential election and down-ballot contests looming, United Methodists are making a final push to encourage their sibling Wesleyans to vote as a sacred duty, using Christian values and character traits as their guide.
Officially, the denomination, its church-wide mission and ministry units, local congregations and clergy are prohibited from endorsing any political candidate under the restrictions of nonprofit tax rules. However, religious institutions that gain the coveted 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service are permitted to hold candidate forums and to witness publicly to their beliefs. Individual United Methodists are free to express their opinions and partisan support.
“United Methodists have been speaking out since mid-summer on how the former president doesn’t represent traditional Methodist values.”
Many United Methodists have made use of their ability to critique U.S. politics and to examine the character of presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. A quick online search for Trump supporters found no United Methodists publicly backing the former president in the first five pages of results. A similar search likewise found no public support for Harris in the first five pages of results.
An additional search for Harris critiques by United Methodists turned up no results. Instead, a similar search for Trump critiques showed United Methodists have been speaking out since mid-summer on how the former president doesn’t represent traditional Methodist values.
The Council of Bishops took an uncharacteristic lead in the political landscape July 16 when it issued a statement condemning political violence after the first assassination attempt on Trump. The bishops called on United Methodists to “pursue peacemaking” in their civic endeavors amid the nation’s political polarization.
The bishops’ statement was followed in August by reports from three regional UMC units of campaigns emphasizing kindness and building civil relationships during the election process.
James Howell
As the election cycle progressed, however, individual United Methodists wrote and spoke more forcefully against themes projected by the Trump campaign. Two prominent commentators were James C. Howell, senior pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C., and Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai, resident bishop of the UMC’s Iowa Annual (regional) Conference.
An author of 17 books and church resources, Howell has published a series of more than 20 “Reflections” under the title “The Election, Your Spirituality and the Soul of our Nation.” His topics have included tribalism, race, guns, war, the economy, the environment and immigration, along with personal character, citizenship and an “absolute obligation” to participate in politics by voting. He hasn’t endorsed either presidential candidate, but his reflections on how Christian values influence society have drawn sharp contrasts to prevailing attitudes. Among his observations:
Should we insist upon stellar character in leaders? Or do we want whoever will get the job we want done? Do we harbor the sensible but perilous idea that a politician who’s not squeaky clean but a bit crooked actually will get stuff done in a crooked world? … We need, over time, to be surfacing candidates who are exemplary in life and morals. Not perfect or 100% holy (since no one is), but the kind of people you hope your children will grow up to be. We need, over time, to be the kinds of citizens and voters who care, who insist on character, and just won’t vote for the ethically jeopardized.
Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai addresses the 2020 Pre-General Conference Briefing in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.)
In her Oct. 15 post, Bigham-Tsai touched on Christian nationalism and its influence, citing United Methodism’s core beliefs.
We strongly denounce political violence, which severs community bonds and supplants the rule of law. We equally denounce authoritarianism and secular and Christian nationalism, which foster centralization and abuse of power, accompanied by racism, xenophobia, tribalism and misogyny. Nationalism is a political ideology that defies God’s love by pitting the interests of one group of people against others. Christian nationalism demands laws, culture and public policies be based on a distorted interpretation of the gospel that elevates power and control over love. These ideologies are in direct contradiction to our Christian faith because our “love of God is always linked with love of neighbor, a passion for justice and the renewal of life in the world.”
Other commentators have spoken directly to the character traits exhibited by Trump.
Drawing on his personal experience with bullying, retired California clergyman Schuyler Rhodes decried Trump as “bully-in-chief”:
I have watched with alarm and disgust as I have come to the horrifying realization that the Republican candidate for the president of the United States of America is a bully. That he is more than this, we know. He is a convicted felon. He is a narcissist. He is a sexual predator. He is greedy. He is a pathological liar. And he is not, in spite of his own protestation, a Christian. This former Bully-in-Chief is an assassin of the Spirit, tearing at the fabric of nation and community, leaving most of a nation in chronic depression and grief over the evaporation of civility and decent mutuality.
In a lengthy Facebook post, retired North Carolina clergywoman Mary John Dye lamented the number of her friends and acquaintances who support Trump despite what she views as his immoral character:
When facts don’t matter, when the common currency of conversation is insult, when falsehoods are unapologetically repeated, when people are baited to hate others, the good people who are our witnesses to Christian faith know all that is the opposite of Christianity. This is not a matter of political party. The same standard would be true for any political party. For Christians, values matter, in life and at the ballot box. And the two are profoundly connected.
Leaders of the General Board of Church and Society held a webinar Oct.16 urging United Methodists to vote according to their values.
Moderator Aimee Hong asked Church and Society’s newly installed top executive, retired bishop Julius C. Trimble, and Kendal McBroom, director of civil and human rights, several questions aimed at describing the right to vote as a “sacred duty” for all Christians. Church and Society panelists stressed that their point wasn’t for United Methodists to vote for a particular candidate, but to view the 2024 election as an opportunity to vote for values that would create “a common good.”
“It’s critical that the prophetic voice of Christians enables those of conviction to hold those in power accountable for their actions,” Trimble said. “We’re bearers of a prophetic call to advocate for the marginalized even as we celebrate the separation of church and state.”
Related articles:
Burge sees danger in ‘political monoculture’ of evangelicalism
Vote for us, because in the economy of God, there is no them | Opinion by Michael Friday
What will people say about American Christianity in 200 years? | Opinion by Andrew Manis