BY SHARON MARTIN
What matters more, a person’s religious affiliation or their character?
Evidently, the voters in South Carolina chose affiliation … or bombast.
When people who identify themselves as evangelical Christians vote overwhelmingly for a man who has twice left a sick wife, you have to wonder, “What were they thinking?”
Now, I’m with Three-Wives-and-You’re-Out Gingrich on one thing: a person’s private life is private. But this man who claims the media has no right to question him about allegations from his ex-wife sure thought it was all right to impeach a president for something that should have been between the president and his wife.
I just can’t stomach hypocrisy.
Morals have almost nothing to do with religion, but they have almost everything to do with how one behaves. How do you treat the people around you? Do you think you’re above the law? Do the rules that apply to others apply to you?
What about the morals of our government, which is a government of the people? I’m talking us. What responsibility do we have, as a people, to ensure that there are no hungry children?
Should we lock up most criminals or try to teach them skills that let them re-enter society? Should we help the homeless? Should we offer mental health programs for returning veterans? Should we ensure a quality education for children of every social class?
And what role should we, the people, play in ensuring that everyone has access to quality healthcare and that no one goes bankrupt because they are sick?
These are the questions we should be asking, and we should know in our hearts how we want them answered. But glib answers aren’t enough.
Whether a candidate is Baptist, Morman, Hindu, or agnostic doesn’t matter. We have freedom of religion in our country. Politicians of every stripe have the right to be in office. A candidate’s faith should never be the criteria on which one bases a vote.
We should, however, be sure we understand as well as we can a candidate’s morals. We should see these morals in action.
Find out for yourself how a candidate has behaved in the past, and you will know how they are likely to behave in the future. It’s not religious affiliation. It’s not what they or someone else says in their ads. It’s not the way they sidestep answers during a debate performance.
It’s on actions and actions alone, friends, that we should base our voting decisions.
By their works shall ye know them.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
