Same-sex supporters won unprecedented victories this week. Wisconsin elected the nation’s first openly gay senator, while three new gay candidates were elected to the House. Same-sex marriage proponents won in all four states where gay marriage was contested. Those who support biblical marriage are more counter-cultural than ever.
Now consider this fact: More evangelicals than Mormons voted for Mitt Romney, in both percentage and votes cast. In fact, more conservative Christians voted for the Republican nominee than for any candidate in American history. Mr. Obama attracted even fewer Protestants, evangelicals, and Catholics than in his 2008 victory, but still won decisively.
Clearly, Christians who want to make a difference must do more than vote. Is our witness still relevant to our changing culture?
George Washington warned us in 1796, “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” John Adams stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Lest you think the connection between morality and religion is claimed only by religious people, consider this statement from atheist John Steinrucken: “The glue that has held Western civilization together over the centuries is the Judeo-Christian tradition. To the extent that the West loses its religious faith in favor of non-judgmental secularism, then to that same extent, it loses that which holds all else together. . . . An orderly society is dependent on a generally accepted morality. There can be no such morality without religion.”
So what now? Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, concluded after the election that Christians “may be on the losing side of the culture war.” But he reminds us that “when our King returns, He won’t be riding a donkey or elephant.” In fact, he will ride a white horse of victory and wear the name, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16).
Until he returns, our nation needs us to be the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), leaving the safety of the saltshaker to stand for Christ with bold courage; and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14-16), going wherever the night is darkest. By “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) we will engage our culture with both Scripture and compassion.
Changed people change the world.