Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
As An Evangelical Leader, I’ll Vote Democratic this Year

As An Evangelical Leader, I’ll Vote Democratic this Year

Last updated on: October 2, 2026 at 3:14 pm by Rev. Rob Schenck

0 Comments

As An Evangelical Leader, I’ll Vote Democratic this Year 2026-10-02T15:14:51-04:00 Rev. Rob Schenck

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The silhouette of a man casting an election ballot holding a Bible is intended to illustrate that religious convictions can infomr our voting.

As a Bible-Believing Christian, I’ll Vote Democratic This November.

Why I’m Breaking with the GOP—Again

For most of my 45 years of full-time Christian ministry, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Republicans. I believed—truly believed—that the GOP represented biblical values and godly governance. I preached it. I defended it. I voted for it.

Then I began to question the unquestionable. Something changed. Or rather, something has been changing for a long time, and it’s led me to a different conclusion about the parties. I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 because he was the “born-again” candidate. He testified to his belief in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. After that election, I wouldn’t vote for another Democrat in any office until I voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

This November, I’m voting for all Democratic candidates for Congress and in state elections. And before you click away or fire off an angry comment, hear me out. This isn’t about abandoning my faith. It’s about honoring it.

When Power Goes Unchecked

Our founders understood something fundamental about human nature: we can’t be trusted with too much power. That’s why they built our government on checks and balances. Madison said it best: “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

But look at where we are today. The Republican Party controls the presidency. They control Congress. They control the Supreme Court. And they control 28 state legislatures.

Think about that for a moment. One party. Three branches of federal government. A supermajority of state governments.

Who’s checking that power? Who’s providing accountability?

Lord Acton warned us centuries ago: absolute power corrupts absolutely. This isn’t partisan fear-mongering. It’s a statement of historical fact. When any group—left or right—accumulates this much unchecked authority, tyranny follows. Always.

Christians have a particular explanation for this: “All have sinned.” (Romans 3:23)

The Great Party Switch (That Nobody Wants to Talk About)

Here’s something else that troubles me, something I’ve witnessed across my decades in ministry: political parties switch roles. It’s uncomfortable to acknowledge, but it’s true.

The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by antislavery politicians. They championed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments—the very constitutional provisions that abolished slavery and granted citizenship and voting rights to Black Americans. That was 172 years ago.

Today? That same party is systematically dismantling those hard-won freedoms.

Now, let me address the elephant in the room—or should I say, the donkey? There’s a persistent myth that Democrats have always been the party of slavery and racism. It’s a convenient narrative, but it’s not the whole truth.

Yes, the Democratic Party was founded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, a virulent racist, bigot, and enslaver. Jackson’s platform was pro-agrarian, pro-expansionist, and anti-tariff. He believed high tariffs favored wealthy industrialists over ordinary working people. But here’s what gets conveniently forgotten: Northern Democrats split from their Southern counterparts over slavery. The party fractured because conscience demanded it.

Today, Democrats work to expand voting rights and include more Americans in our democracy. Republicans? They’re doing the opposite—and the data is undeniable.

The parties have switched.

On Conscience, Government, and Moral Authority

Let me get personal about something that deeply troubles me: the Republican insistence that government should dictate our moral convictions on abortion, marriage, and gender.

I’m going to say something controversial: politicians are the last people who should be interfering with these profound moral questions. I know; I worked very close to them for over thirty years. I visited personally with innumerable members of Congress, two presidents, and many federal judges. I spoke at length with them, read the Scripture and prayed with them, and even listened as they confessed their sins before God.

Democrats believe government should be mostly neutral on these matters. Republicans believe moral convictions should be imposed by legislative fiat. But friends, Romans 2:15 tells us that the moral law of God is “written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” It’s the conscience—informed by Scripture, prayer, and the Holy Spirit—that must guide us in these complex moral territories. Not politicians angling for votes.

On abortion specifically, we need to stop pretending this is simple. Only a narrow stream of Christianity reads the Bible as declaring every abortion to be murder. I’ve spent my adult life studying Scripture, and I can tell you: faithful, Bible-believing Christians have held diverse views on when life begins and what constitutes personhood. Jews, whom we turn to to understand the foundations of our faith, have, since time immemorial, believed life begins at the first breath. There’s only one reason to believe that this was the understanding Jesus and his disciples had.

More importantly, every pregnancy is as unique as the woman carrying it. One blanket rule cannot cover every circumstance, every medical reality, every crisis.

And the consequences of pretending otherwise? States with five or more abortion restrictions experienced higher rates of maternal deaths from various causes, including being denied care by medical professionals afraid they might be prosecuted for doing so. Republican legislators, in their rush to appear righteous, have instituted bans that have resulted in women suffering injury, illness, and death.

Politicians don’t understand crisis pregnancies. They see women as political pawns to achieve electoral ends. But doctors, nurses, pastors, friends, and family—they understand the complexity. They know what’s in the best interest of everyone involved. They want to pursue healing and hope, not political points.

Remember Who We’re Called to Stand With

Some of the greatest Christian Americans have been Democrats. Billy Graham was a lifelong registered Democrat. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose prophetic witness transformed our nation, aligned with Democratic values of justice and equality. Jimmy Carter served as our 39th president as a Democrat, and his commitment to civil rights and human rights flowed directly from his deep Christian faith.

When I became a Christian in 1974, virtually every believer I knew was a registered Democrat. Why? Because the Democratic Party stood for humble workers, struggling families, immigrants, and those on society’s margins.

You know who else stood with those people? Jesus.

He washed their feet. He fed their hunger. He defended their dignity. He challenged the religious and political establishments that exploited them.

The Republican Party that once stood for the most oppressed and persecuted people on this continent–those enslaved as property–now stands for corporate conglomerates, billionaires and trillionaires–the people who can join the President’s private country club for $1 million a year in dues.

Where Our True Allegiance Lies

Let me be crystal clear about something: Christians do not swear fidelity to political parties or politicians. Our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who gave us two principal commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).

For me, the Democratic Party now promotes these principles far better than the Republican Party, which seems to actively militate against them.

The Pro-Life Inconsistency

And for those who insist there’s only one pro-life party, let’s talk honestly about what “pro-life” actually means.

We traded Roe v. Wade for a party that promotes unrestricted firearm access—flooding our country with guns that end up in the hands of criminals and mass shooters. We got a party that prosecutes endless wars killing thousands of innocent children, women, and men. We got a party that tolerates—even celebrates—extrajudicial killings on our streets and seas.

Is that pro-life?

Being pro-life must mean more than opposing abortion. It must mean protecting life at every stage and in every circumstance. It must mean caring about the mother’s life as much as the unborn child’s. It must mean addressing gun violence that claims tens of thousands of American lives annually. It must mean pursuing peace instead of perpetual warfare.

Otherwise, we’re not pro-life. We’re just pro-birth—and we abandon both mother and child after delivery.

My Decision

For all these reasons and many more, as a Christ follower, I will vote Democratic in the upcoming elections.

This isn’t a betrayal of my faith—it’s an expression of it. This isn’t abandoning biblical values—it’s applying them to the messy realities of governance in a pluralistic democracy.

I know some will disagree. I know some will question my commitment to Scripture or suggest I’ve been deceived. But I’ve wrestled with these questions in prayer, in study, and in conversation with fellow believers whose faith I respect deeply.

And I’ve come to believe that the Democratic Party, for all its flaws and failings, better reflects the values Jesus taught: care for the vulnerable, inclusion of the marginalized, pursuit of justice, and radical love for neighbor.

The choice is yours. But I encourage you to make it prayerfully, thoughtfully, with your conscience as your guide—not political tribalism, not party loyalty, not fear of what others will think.

Your conscience. Informed by faith. Submitted to the model, mission, and message of Jesus Christ.

That’s what I’m doing.

Evangelical

Previous Post

August 11, 2026

Trump’s Use of Human Shields: A Moral Crisis

Who built an ark to survive a great flood?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Moses Joseph Noah