Salon has published an article about the politics of New Life Church. This is the paragraph that struck me:
“I’m not going to tell you who to vote for,” [Senior Pastor Brady Boyd] said. “You pray, fast and vote for whoever God tells you represents your values. We have a biblical worldview here, so vote for candidates who are going to do that — who are going to uphold the Biblical worldview we all have.” Mostly, Boyd seemed worried about Amendment 48. “If you’re not interested in any other issue on the ballot please, please, go to the polls on Tuesday — if you have not voted yet — and vote yes for Amendment 48,” he said, probably violating the terms of the church’s tax-exempt status. “It’s the right thing to do.”
These people literally believe that a supernatural being is “telling” them how to vote. But presumably they don’t hear an actual voice: “Hello, Brady, this is God. You need to vote for Candidate X this year. My will be done. Over.” So what, then, is the mechanism by which God imparts his election wisdom? People just feel that God is guiding them in some particular way. That’s it. A feeling. This is subjectivism masquerading as divine intervention.
But Pastor Boyd already knows that God will tell his flock to vote for candidates who share a “Biblical worldview.” What is that? Presumably, it includes such beliefs that a fertilized egg is a person, that homosexuality is sinful and should be legally discouraged, that certain types of expression should be censored, and that certain types of peaceful activities should be criminally punished. Increasingly, the “Biblican worldview” seems for many to imply that the government should forcibly redistribute wealth, including for religious welfare and education, and centrally plan the economy such as to “protect” God’s creation.
Boyd seems even more certain that God wants Coloradans to outlaw abortion (despite the weak Biblical support for such a position, which is in any case properly irrelevant). But Amendment 48 is not the “right thing to do;” it would, if enforced, unleash horrific injustice in this state. But that is a natural consequence of the moral subjectivism implicit in religion.