Voting for our values

A good Catholic gets involved in politics, Pope Francis once said. Our faith and patriotism compel us to speak clearly and to act at a time like now.

“Do I as a Catholic watch from my balcony? No, you can’t watch from the balcony. Get right in there!” the Pope said before Italy’s Christian Life Community and Student Missionary League as reported by the National Catholic Reporter back in May 2015. That still sounds so current.

Christians have a duty to work for the common good in the world of politics, the Pope said… yet he acknowledged it is not easy, specially when there is so much corruption.
 
“It’s a kind of martyrdom where one carries the cross of the ideal of the common good everyday without letting yourself be corrupted or discouraged in the midst of failure,” the Pope observed. “Following Jesus means swimming against the tide, renouncing evil and selfishness.”

In a more recent speech, the Pope admitted that often, the political choices people face is between supporting a "snake" or supporting a "dragon." But Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops their job is to step back from partisan politics and help their faithful discern based on values at stake, the Catholic News Service reported.

The Pope emphasized that now more than ever, it is necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good...

I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor.

Back at home, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches seems to share the observations of Pope Francis. They have announced the launch of the Christian Values Movement (CVM), “a movement of fellow Filipinos united in their desire to apply Biblical values to the pressing issues facing our nation."

“Through the Christian Values Movement, we seek to unite the huge, but often silent majority of God-fearing Filipinos to become a force for positive change and hold politicians accountable.”

The Christian bishops asked the faithful: “Do you long for the day when men and women with integrity and competence who love God and this country, would lead our country to progress and prosperity? I think all of us who love the Philippines and love Jesus have that innate desire.

“While ultimately it is God who brings blessings to any nation, we believe that God has also given us a responsibility. His blessing will come when competent leaders who are committed to follow Biblical principles of life and governance will take their place in the political and governmental sphere.”

The evangelical group explained that there is a misunderstanding of what the separation of church and state really means. The principle aims to protect the people’s freedom to worship and prevent the state from mandating a national religion. But every Christian must participate in public life to uphold our values.

The evangelical group acknowledged that most Christians and Christian organizations have avoided engaging the public sphere.

“While we quietly criticize the culture of corruption around us, we have wrongly assumed that there is nothing that we can do to change it. We limit our involvement in telling our people to pray.

“We have never sought to be united in our defense and promotion of Biblical principles of governance, to effect change in our nation. We have remained on the sidelines while powerful secular and even religious blocks continue to dominate the selection of our political leaders, and influence the moral fabric of our institutions.

“We believe it is time to be more proactive and exercise civic responsibility.”

While the Philippine Catholic Church has been vocal against corruption and how we vote, there has been no unified call for voting our Christian values as urged by Pope Francis. The Philippine Catholic Church seems to focus more on personalities.

Indeed we could see a replay of 2016 when some big churches turned a blind eye to their responsibilities by endorsing candidates who seem to go against the values of their religion.

In asking our people to vote our Christian values next year, we are not endorsing any candidate. We are asking our Christian communities to pray for discernment and  examine each candidate.

Have they lived their lives according to our values?  That will tell us how they will perform in public office.

Are they in public office primarily  to serve the people or to enrich themselves? It is easy to check past records, past behavior as indicators of future performance.

Is the candidate prepared for the job and is he competent? Or is he just riding on a familiar family name or celebrity status? An election is not a popularity contest. The quality of our lives, and as Covid showed, even our survival depend on choices we make.

We should pray for good leaders, of course. But we get good leaders only if we make sure the good candidate  wins over the evil and the lesser evil. God answers our prayers but will never deny us the free will to ruin our lives as we often do.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.