Deconstructing The Meaning Of "I Vote Christian"
Robert Paul Reyes
September 23, 2006
A couple of days ago I saw a faded bumper sticker which read " I Vote Christian."
Allow me to deconstruct the meaning and implications of this seemingly innocuous bumper sticker.
The individual who slapped this message on his/her car is defining Christianity in a very narrow way.
The chances are 99 per cent or better that this Christian votes against candidates who favor abortion, gay rights and a quick end to the Iraq war. Why have the vast majority of mainline Christians allowed the fundamentalist fringe to define the meaning of what it means to be a Christian? Couldn't a Christian who admires the loving spirit of Jesus be in favor of extending basic civil rights to everyone and against the bloody war in Iraq?
The owner of the car with the "I Vote Christian" bumper sticker is implying that anyone who does not share his/her ideology is a non-Christian or anti-Christian. To argue that a conservative political philosophy is synonymous with being a Christian, is dangerous, simplistic and idiotic.
This incendiary bumper sticker sends the not to subtle message that Muslims, Jews, Pagans and other non-Christians are not welcome in America. "Yes sir, I'm an American who votes Christian unlike that liberal nut next door who votes for liberal Jewish Democrats."
The bumper sticker loving person is not a nuanced thinker, he/she sees things in black and white. You are either a Christian-voting American or an anti-Christian voting subversive. It's these fanatics who see everything in simplistic terms who are taking us back to the Dark Ages.
I don't "Vote Christian", I vote my conscience and that means that sometimes (not often) I vote Republican and sometimes I vote Democrat.
I hope this Christian voter doesn't move to my neighborhood, I've received more than my fair share of abuse via email from these Jerry Falwell clones.
Allow me to deconstruct the meaning and implications of this seemingly innocuous bumper sticker.
The individual who slapped this message on his/her car is defining Christianity in a very narrow way.
The chances are 99 per cent or better that this Christian votes against candidates who favor abortion, gay rights and a quick end to the Iraq war. Why have the vast majority of mainline Christians allowed the fundamentalist fringe to define the meaning of what it means to be a Christian? Couldn't a Christian who admires the loving spirit of Jesus be in favor of extending basic civil rights to everyone and against the bloody war in Iraq?
The owner of the car with the "I Vote Christian" bumper sticker is implying that anyone who does not share his/her ideology is a non-Christian or anti-Christian. To argue that a conservative political philosophy is synonymous with being a Christian, is dangerous, simplistic and idiotic.
This incendiary bumper sticker sends the not to subtle message that Muslims, Jews, Pagans and other non-Christians are not welcome in America. "Yes sir, I'm an American who votes Christian unlike that liberal nut next door who votes for liberal Jewish Democrats."
The bumper sticker loving person is not a nuanced thinker, he/she sees things in black and white. You are either a Christian-voting American or an anti-Christian voting subversive. It's these fanatics who see everything in simplistic terms who are taking us back to the Dark Ages.
I don't "Vote Christian", I vote my conscience and that means that sometimes (not often) I vote Republican and sometimes I vote Democrat.
I hope this Christian voter doesn't move to my neighborhood, I've received more than my fair share of abuse via email from these Jerry Falwell clones.
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