Why I’m Rethinking My Vote: Church, State, and the Line Politicians Shouldn’t Cross
As a veteran, protecting the boundary between church and state matters more to me than nostalgia
Our pastor recently removed the American flag from the sanctuary
It wasn’t a protest of any kind — she simply supports the separation of church and state.
As a veteran myself, married to a veteran, and the daughter of a combat veteran, I was asked how I feel about this. My friends expected me to rise up in anger, and were surprised to learn I support the decision wholeheartedly.
My service was about supporting the rights and freedoms we are lucky enough to take for granted, including the freedom to worship without government influence.
That’s why no American should let a religious leader tell them how to vote, and no government leader tell them how to be spiritual.
Some would say faith is sacred, and it should transcend politics.
For me, it’s more that spirituality involves the heart and the internal source of our being. Politics should be about logic, and the concrete world that we share.
Like the old saying goes, “don’t think with your heart, don’t feel with your head.”
People seem to get this. mixed up all the time, however, which is why our government needs to be protected from all forms of religion.
That brings me to something that happened recently. I was on a call with our pastor when she mentioned how a local politician hung around in the vestry on a recent Sunday, handing out leaflets. Now, our pastor agrees with this politician on many points but refuses to have someone politicking inside the sanctuary.
She asked the politician to leave, but the leaflets kept coming.
Until hearing this, I had been planning to vote for this politician. But now, I’m reconsidering. She clearly didn’t respect the division between church and state — either because she didn’t understand that the pastor was asking her to leave, or she didn’t care.
All the pastor asked her to do was to move from inside the church to the public sidewalk outside — a distance of only a few feet.
If this politician was being socially awkward or emotionally tone-deaf, that’s one thing — I can handle incapacity and ignorance. What I can’t tolerate is selfishness, or abandoning an ethical course when it’s no longer expedient.
Circling back around for a moment, I have to acknowledge not everyone in our congregation was thrilled about removing the flag. Some saw it as a betrayal, and a part of me did too.
I remember the altars when I was a kid had our denomination flag on one side, and the red, white, & blue on the other. Remembering that, it feels natural, and warmly comforting.
As a veteran, however — married to a former Army sniper, and the daughter of a WWII through Vietnam-era combat veteran — I value our Constitution more than I do nostalgia.
The message I got as a child was that the flag was in church because we were supporting the country with our prayers. Some people seem to have gotten a get a different message, however — that God and country were entwined, inseparable, interdependent.
Some politicos like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene complain to the press that religion should be over and above country — that the church should dictate what happens in government, and society.
That kind of messaging we can do without. We have to do without it.
Our founders could see what theocracy had done in Europe, as well as in the early colonies themselves. They wanted something different — they strove to protect us from that whole holy-warring, Inquisitioning, crusading, witch-burning mess.
That some want to bring it back again today makes having a flag in the church too dangerous. For the sake of our democracy, we can’t afford to let anyone get the wrong message.
We can be both patriotic and protective of the sacred space we worship in. We can both enjoy a spiritual life and protect our government from theology.
By doing so, we honor both God and the freedoms upon which the U.S. government was established.
If this resonates with you, check out my other pieces on church and state:
If MTG Gets Her Way, Your Taxes Will Support Her Church
Lauren Boebert: That Sh*t Will Get You Killed in the Theocracy You Crave
Cotton Mather Welcomes the Challenge of Bringing Theocracy to 21st Century America
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When I think of good Christians, I never, ever think of Lauren Boebart or MTG.
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