Find a Link to the Full Resource HERE
Using this Resource
In
this election year, it is more critical than ever to understand the mechanics
of our democracy, to reclaim the values
and the promise of our electoral process. The right to vote is being restricted
in many places, which raises questions for U.S. Reformed Christians about the
meaning of our democracy. At the direction of the General Assembly, we at the
Office of Public Witness have compiled resources to aid individual church
members and congregations to look at these questions. We hope this discussion
guide will prove a helpful template in your process of reflection and action.
This
resource can be used individually, with a church study group or class, or as a
source of sermon starters and ideas. We intend this guide to explore the links
between our call to public witness as Presbyterians and our responsibility as
Americans to demand free and fair elections. Unlike voting guides that simply
list things to support or oppose, we summarize history and practice to show
systemic patterns that need change.
We
draw on U.S. history, Presbyterian Social Witness Policy, Scripture, and other
resources to focus on the gradual and uneven recognition of members of minority
groups as full voting members of society. While some of these matters can be
challenging or frustrating, we have sought new ways to encourage real dialogue
in our congregations and communities about the lasting impacts of segregation, and
the ongoing struggles for equity for women, people of color, working people and
those unable to work. In a polarized environment, we still affirm the promise of a government “of the people, by
the people, and for the people”—for all
the people!
The Theme: Voter
Suppression in the United States
In
the 2008 PC (U.S.A.) Social Witness Policy Lift
Every Voice, the Presbyterian Church called on this country to enforce the
Voting Rights Act and to protect people and communities of color, women, the
young, people with disabilities and the elderly from targeted purges of voting
lists and other forms of disenfranchisement[1].
This policy equipped us with much needed prophetic language and practical ideas,
yet in 2013, our country entered a new era of voter suppression marked by
different tactics than in years past but yielding the same dangerous outcomes. The
Supreme Court decision of Shelby vs. Holder in 2013 reinterpreted the Voting
Rights Act, limiting the ability of the federal government to review new voting
laws put in place by the states that jeopardize minority voters. Since that
decision suspending “pre-clearance” review by the Justice Department, states
have passed voting laws that have the practical effect of discriminating
against minority communities.[2]
In an already partisan political climate, voting rights themselves should not
be a partisan issue. Rather, they are the very foundation of democracy, and if
free and fair elections are under threat, then so too is our national identity.
Recognizing this, the 2014 General Assembly called for the 2008 policy to be
updated and for the Office of Public Witness to provide a resource for study
and action.
Respect for the conscience of the individual anchors
Presbyterian reverence for the right to vote for everyone. Public service is
seen by us as a high calling, and government itself a servant and agent of the
people, accountable to all citizens. Politics as public decision-making has an
ethical purpose and benefits from laws that prevent corruption by special
interests against the common good. Weakening the rights of citizenship for some
and unfairly enhancing the power of others distort the practices and legitimacy
of democracy. As a Reformed Christian church, understanding God’s covenant to
have been opened by Jesus Christ even to “the least of these,” the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) seeks to live out and witness to its values of love and justice
in the public sphere.[3]
The
systemic approach of denying minorities the right to vote has long been against
our expressed ideals as Presbyterians. Beginning its post-war civil rights
commitment in 1947, the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (PCUS) Assembly opposed all
organizations and individuals who aim to hinder any minorities on the basis of
creed, class or color. In 1956, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
(the more national, “Northern” church) called upon Christians to work to
eliminate the poll tax “and other restrictions which prevent many citizens from
exercising their legal rights at the polls” (Minutes, UPCUSA, 1956, Part I,
p.235; see also Minutes, PCUS, 1957, Part I, p.194). In 1965, the PCUS affirmed
the historic Voting Rights Act saying, “The basic purpose of the civil rights
movement should be to obtain for the Negro—and of course, for all minority
groups—justice in affairs of daily life and the right to respect as human being
under the redemptive concern of God. Jesus, by His words and life, calls us, as
his followers, to support him in the struggle…” (Minutes, PCUS, 1965, Part I,
p.159). These and other statements were not easy to make and are worth remembering
as that struggle continues in new forms.
Because the issue of voting rights is so deeply tied
to the history of racism in the US, this course of study is intrinsically connected
to the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s vision of becoming an antiracist community. This
provides us with the theological, cultural and political framework for resisting
oppression and working to overcome racism within our own life as well as in the
broader society. It means combining social analysis, institutional
reconstruction, and individual healing with discernment, prayer, and
worship-based action. This resource does not address all of the dynamics that
restrict electoral reform, including partisan redistricting (gerrymandering)
and distortions caused by the electoral college and inaction by the Federal
Election Commission. But it does look at shorter term remedies and potential
legislation that could restore voter protections intended in the original
Voting Rights Act of 1965. We encourage
readers to formulate your own ways of engaging this topic based on the
realities of your congregations and communities, and to reach out to the Office
of Public Witness if we can be of further assistance.
Find a Link to the Full Resource HERE
[1] “Lift Every Voice: Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral
Reform”
https://www.pcusa.org/resource/lift-every-voice-democracy-voting-rights-and-elect
[3] Here and elsewhere, this resource draws on
language from the report to the 2016 General Assembly, “Election Protection and
Integrity in Campaign Finance.” https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000045
