Being a Christian is supposed to have an effect on every aspect of your life. The values and the love and the integrity that Christians are supposed to exemplify should not be excluded from any part of the believer's life. If a person is, for example, a businessman and a Christian, he or she can, as a good steward of their means, both hire and fire people in good conscience. However, if this same person runs their business like a storm trooper and puts people out of business from sheer revenge and takes pleasure in it, what good does their faith do them? He or she would be indistinguishable from a non-Christian. And this is completely unacceptable. We are allowed to be in the world, use the world's goods, even participate in business activities; but we are not allowed to be of the world. What this means is that the Christian should be a Christian--and be seen to be a Christian--in business, in their family life, in recreational choices . . . in short, everywhere. A politician who says something like, "I won't let my personal religious beliefs effect how I vote in the Senate on abortion," is utterly useless as a Christian. If he believes that a fetus is a person but votes for abortion on demand anyway for political reasons, that person has chosen his job over his faith. He has put God in the back seat and does not deserve to be called a Christian because Christ is not enthroned in the center of his life. He may still be a fine person and a good Senator, but he has chosen not to act like a Christian. This will grieve the Holy Spirit and there may be consequences beyond those of the ballot box, such as God's disciplining the man until he does put Christ first. 

This does not mean that a Christian in a position of leadership should, in their job, always act in this job as a leader in the same way they would act personally as a believer. For example, let us say that a hypothetical President of the United States, John Smith, is a true Christian. If John Smith were, let us say, mugged in Central Park, being a Christian dictates that President Smith forgive the person and does nothing to retaliate. The mugger will have to answer for his crime in a court of law but President Smith should not also seek personal retribution. But as a man entrusted with the stewardship and protection of a nation of hundreds of millions of people, it would be incumbent upon the President, even as a Christian, to defend the nation. Sometimes this might mean even going to war. We will avoid the debate on our current situation in Iraq by saying that President Roosevelt, assuming for the sake of discussion that he was a true Christian, was completely justified in taking the nation to war after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

While a Christian should never commit murder under any circumstances, Martin Luther addressed this general subject when he noted that, if the ruling prince, being a just man and a true Christian, has legitimate need of a headsman, a Christian can in good conscience serve him in this capacity. His justification for this position was that God not only ordained the establishment of the Church and of the Family for the benefit of humankind, He also established the existence of Human Government. The same Old Testament book that contains the injunction, "Thou Shalt Not Kill," (Exodus, in chapter 20) ordained in rare circumstances the execution of evildoers for the good of and for the protection of the nation.

All this has been said because there is a lot of controversy in America right now over the involvement of people of faith in politics. Should a Christian be a political Conservative or politically Liberal? And does not being a Conservative or a Liberal reflect badly upon you as a Christian?

Many Christians who vote their faith are politically and socially Conservative. They believe strongly in personal responsibility, hard work, law and order and justice, a strong traditional family structure, sexual morality, and are not fans of social change in the areas of sexuality and traditional marriage.

Other Christians who vote their faith are politically and socially Liberal. They believe strongly in equality and social justice, protection of and care for the poor, responsible but very restrained use of the military or even pacifism, intense stewardship of a fragile and abused environment, and that America's vast resources should be used to raise up under-developed places and peoples. 

These two positions are not as mutually exclusive as they appear, of course. But in general, if you consider the decay of traditional social values and personal responsibility a greater problem than the lack of social justice and concern and attention for the poor, then you will probably be, and vote, Conservative. If you feel the oppression of minorities, lack of concern for the poor and unjust use of the military bigger problems than the destruction of morality, the rise of crime and lack of personal responsibility, then you will probably be, and vote, Liberal.

The important thing is to vote how your conscience tells you to vote. When Paul was speaking on matters of conscience (specifically the subjects of eating meat sacrificed to idols and upon which day a Christian should worship, but the principle is the same) he spoke decisively. He said, "You're both right! (As long as you're acting in agreement with your conscience.)"

The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written, "‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’" So, then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died. (Romans 14:3-15)

To paraphrase Paul, do not by your voting destroy your brother, for whom Christ died. If anyone regards voting for the death penalty as unclean, then for him it is unclean. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.