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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h2><span style='font-weight:normal'><a href="http://dougwils.com/the-church/political-not-partisan.html">Political, Not Partisan</a> <o:p></o:p></span></h2><p>“<span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>As you know, it is not my place, from this pulpit, to urge you to vote for candidate x or candidate y. Vote for Murphy, or vote for Schultz, have no place here. The pulpit must never become a place for factional politics, or partisanship. At the same time, the presence of the Church in the world is inescapably political, and this means that if we do not draw the charge of partisanship, we are not doing our job. If we are not drawing the charge of license, we are not really preaching grace. If we are not drawing the charge of fatalism, we are not really preaching God’s rule over all things. So then, in the same way, if the political presence of the Church in the world makes no political difference to those given over to partisanship, then we are not fulfilling our calling rightly.<br><br>The outcome of this local race will make a great deal of practical difference to us all over the course of the next few years. The margin of victory in the last mayoral race we had was less than the population of just one of our parishes. So while I will not be doing any endorsing from this place, I do charge you—in the name of Jesus Christ—to be present in our town as a thinking Christian this next Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>So I can and will tell you that if you are eligible to vote here, you have a responsibility to do so. This is a responsibility that you must discharge before God, in a calm and responsible way. You are not to give way to the lies of secular democracy, which want you to treat your vote in some sacramental way, as though it were a sacred thing. It is nothing of the kind. But it is part of your Christian responsibility in seeking the good of the city where you live. This is not complicated.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>One last thing. If you are not up to speed on the issues, then seek out someone you trust at church after the service, and simply ask.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>http://dougwils.com/the-church/political-not-partisan.html#more-105659<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>in a similar vein, and to expand a bit further:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Douglas Wilson<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>October 18, 2013 at 4:16 pm<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mitch,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thanks for pressing this point. Let me respond on a simple level, and perhaps defer what I take to be your more serious point for a separate blog post. I grant that I treat Christians who support Republicans differently than I treat Christians who support Democrats. This is because, when it comes to the basic issues, there are many, many bad Republicans. There are no good Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>On a practical level, I didn't vote for or support Romney. I voted for McCain because of the energy that I thought Palin would bring to the pro-life issue -- which is my screamer issue. I didn't vote for George W either time. And I was investigated by the Idaho Attorney-General's office for six months because a complaint had been filed about a comment I made in <i>Credenda</i> about how I would rather be "dead in a ditch" than vote for Dole/Kemp. I don't remember how I vote with Bush/Qualye the second time, and I think I might have voted for them the first time. I voted for Reagan both times, and am thinking about resuming that practice.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://dougwils.com/s7-engaging-the-culture/a-tishbite-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast.html">http://dougwils.com/s7-engaging-the-culture/a-tishbite-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Doug modified in a later post that he apparently meant to say (if you believe the clarification – I don’t) that he didn’t necessarily mean all Democrats were/are bad people, just all the Democratic candidates. And, this is my point. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The pretention that local city elections are non-partisan is ridiculous. The GMA (Greater Moscow Association aka Grossly Misleading Association) are currently enjoying the presidency of </span>Bob Hieronymus. Bob is the Executive President of New Saint Andrews. <span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>