The 2020 U.S. presidential election is without question a significant one—maybe the most significant of our lives. Many of us are eager to make our voice heard. And with social media, it has never been easier. It seems more people are engaged in partisan politics than ever before.
Many people enjoy participating in political discussion and feel empowered by it. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it can be very good, especially if our interest in politics is rooted in love for our neighbor.
But, it’s also important for us to take time occasionally to step back and assess how partisan politics may be impacting our spiritual health. The following statements are designed to help you do just that.
Partisan Politics and Spiritual Health: The Assessment
Respond to each statement by saying either “Yes, this describes me pretty well,” or “No, this doesn’t really describe me.”
The Statements
- I spend so much time reading, discussing, or posting about politics that my family and friends often feel neglected.
- I can’t stand to hear people share political views that are opposite of mine.
- I know I am right, so I try to get my point across without being distracted by what others say.
- I often feel like I have to set the record straight, because people on the other side are deluded.
- People who disagree with me politically make me angry.
- I can’t think of any justifiable reason why someone would vote for the candidate I oppose.
- I think people on the other side must either be deceived or evil.
- I regularly unfriend or block people solely because they share views different from mine.
- In any political discussion, I feel like I have to have the last word, or I’ve failed.
- I often feel personally afraid of what would happen if the party I oppose was in power the next four years.
- It’s absolutely essential that my party win and those it represents prosper; and that the other party loses and those they represent be diminished.
- In doing this assessment, I’ve spent more time thinking about how those who disagree with me should answer, than truly assessing my own spiritual health.
How Did You Do?
So, here’s the thing, if even one of the above statements is true for you, then your political engagement is probably negatively affecting your spiritual well-being. It may be a good time, then, to re-evaluate how you engage with partisan politics. Instead of letting partisan politics affect your spiritual well-being, focus first on your spiritual health, and let that determine how you engage with politics.
Letting Spiritual Wellness Trump Partisan Politics
What does political engagement that is grounded in spiritual wellness look like? Here are a few thoughts.
Faith over Partisan Politics
Spiritual wellness involves knowing in the depths of your being that you are loved, valued, and supported. Whatever happens in the political arena—even those things that may seem unthinkable—you will be okay, because God has your back. For this reason, you can relinquish any need or desire for control over your neighbor’s political views. You can take a step back from partisan politics, and the world will go on, because God is in control.
Hope over Partisan Politics
Because of your faith, you never need to despair. You know that God’s plan will be accomplished, even if it doesn’t happen in the way that you might draw it up. You can set aside what feels safe, comfortable, or desirable to you, because you trust that God knows what he’s doing. For this reason, you can experience peace, knowing that God doesn’t need you to politically dominate others or fight a culture war on God’s behalf.
Love over Partisan Politics
Because of your faith and hope, you can express genuine love toward others, even those that you’ve become accustomed to thinking of as your enemies. When you truly love your political opposites, you don’t need to crush them, own them, or otherwise dominate them. Instead you listen, empathize, clarify, and seek to truly understand their perspective. You begin to think of them, not as “the other,” but as “one of us.”
And when your political engagement is driven by faith, hope, and love—rather than fear, despair, and divisiveness, you no longer need to focus on your personal safety, comfort, convenience, and prosperity. You can truly turn your attention to the second greatest commandment, “love your neighbor,” and use your political engagement, not primarily to benefit yourself, but to benefit your neighbor.
The Real Enemy
When your politics are grounded in spiritual health and wellness, you avoid creating an “us vs. them” situation. Instead, you realize that the enemies are not your neighbors but the “principalities and powers” that seek to rule over all of us. They rule over many by oppression—sometimes very subtle, and other times overt and blatant. They rule over many others by making us feel safe and comfortable, and tempting us to be complicit in oppression. The biblical prophets had a lot to say about this.
Political engagement rooted in spiritual wellness is really pretty simple: Love God. Love your neighbor. Oppose the oppressor.
As the apostle Paul said, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3-4; NIV).
The divine power Paul speaks of is love.