{"id":3874,"date":"2022-11-08T07:16:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T13:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedesertsanctuary\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2022-11-08T07:27:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T13:27:32","slug":"why-i-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedesertsanctuary\/2022\/11\/why-i-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\n

<\/p>\n

Photo by Element5I live in a county that is 75\/25 one way. For issues like state representatives, local officials and representatives of our district, if you\u2019re on the \u201cwrong\u201d side, it\u2019s hard to \u201cwin.\u201d I guess it could be a little discouraging even on the \u201cright\u201d side. I mean,.does my vote matter?<\/p>\n

Laura and I were the first to vote today, number one and number two. So for about 5 minutes at least, everything in Atchison County, MO was going our way. Somewhere around 1980 we got a little mixed up about politics. Because of their fear, Evangelical Christians decided the goal was to be in control. That is not why I vote.<\/p>\n

The reason that I vote is because I can.<\/p>\n

It is one of the ways I use my voice to speak up about things like who should represent us, who should be retained as a judge, and should marijuana be legalized in Missouri. Sometimes the election goes the way I want it to, and sometimes it doesn\u2019t. But the system allows me to cast my vote.<\/p>\n

For similar reasons, I cast my vote about what I see in the world, including organized religion. If I thought the way home was to control the world, then I would probably still be an evangelical. Fear and control are not the ways to accomplish anything noble. It only does what it has done\u2013create trauma.<\/p>\n

Almost everyday I speak up by starting discussions, writing a blog, or even liking a post on social media. I can\u2019t control the world and I probably can\u2019t even control my individual life, if I were to be honest. But I can cast my vote.<\/p>\n

In the long run, it doesn\u2019t really matter how many people agree with us or if we win every contest. The important thing is that we authentically casts our vote based on her values and integrity, not based on whether we will \u201cwin.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a little scary to publish our new book, Out Into the Desert, because we knew a lot of people with vested interest in religion wouldn\u2019t like it or agree with us. But, to the best of our ability, we spoke from our values and integrity and presented a transparent and authentic \u201cvote\u201d for what we see, what we understand, and what we hope for.<\/p>\n