Dana Bell

Elections are only a few weeks away now. Last Sunday, our visiting preacher prayed for our elections and urged us all to get out and vote for good Christians to be elected to leadership. He, of course, was concerned about moral and family values.

It's undisputed that there are attempts by certain groups to put our nations moral values aside, but I wonder also about the motives of the other side. They refer to the character of individual candidates in terms of whether they have family values, whether they are moral, or they are Christians.

Politicians on both sides are guilty of throwing God's name into a speech to suggest that they are on God's side, and in so doing to suggest that God is on their side. But, aside from the issue of politicizing God, there is also the issue for Christians of whether they are truly Christian or just moralists. Is their motive to make the United States more receptive to the gospel, creating a social climate that allows us to live in peace, or making a world that doesn't offend them.

Like so many things in life, it is not as simple as that. Just because a man (or woman) boldly claims to be a Christian (or name your religion) doesn't mean his decisions will be based on the faith's belief system. And just because a man is moral, doesn't mean he will be wise. The Pharisees were moral by their standards. Integrity is much deeper than our morals and the ability to shape our government demands more than a religious affiliation.

In our age of salesmanship (the polite term), we need to look closer to see just what we're getting.