Vote For Common Good
JUSTICE TAKES COURAGE.
From important local school board positions to the President of the United States, this year represents one of the most important election cycles in our lifetime.
Because I’m traveling on election day, I decided to vote early in-person on October 9, 2024. As my wife and I approached the voting location, we praised God for the privilege to exercise our freedom and to cast our votes without any fear of violence or intimidation, knowing that every vote is a voice and every vote counts. Voting was for me as it is for millions of others, an easy opportunity to serve the common good and contribute to a more perfect union.
After voting, I reflected on my baptismal vows and confirmation of faith as a United Methodist Christian. What does it mean for me or you to vote, knowing that our commitment to the common good extends well beyond our personal desires to prosper or to live free from responsibility of others.
It wasn’t long ago that many African Americans did not have an opportunity to vote. Until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Black people in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including voting poll taxes, literacy tests, and other state-driven bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote.
It’s true that the 15th amendment ratified in 1870 extended voting rights for Black men; and the 19th Amendment in 1920 granted the right for women to vote. However, countless Black women and Black men did not have access to voting due to many Southern state laws and hateful, discriminatory practices.
Today, we are still fighting voter suppression and state legislative actions to inhibit voter participation and political equity for people of color (Jim Crowe 2.0). In opposition, we will push for the common good.
Three Remarkable Stories of Inspiring Longevity, Overcoming the Odds and Living Remarkable Faith For Voting Rights
As we push for the common good, I give thanks to women like Lillie Cunningham, Katherine Johnson, and my mother Marybelle Pryor Trimble, who are examples of people who inspire us to vote, to engage in the political process and to make a difference for our communities and country.
Lillie Cunningham
The story of Lillie Cunningham as told by National Public Radio (NPR) is an inspiring one. Lillie Cunningham, a Black women born in Florence, Alabama in 1914, survived the 1918 Influenzas pandemic and Covid 19 pandemic and the harsh oppression of segregation. She has outlived her four siblings — as well as her husband — and has more than 100 nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. At the age of 110, she is one of the oldest living Americans who lived through Jim Crow and remains committed to voting for the common good. Today, she leads an active life, involved in her church and community, and reads her bible daily. At 110, she plans to head to the polls to vote in the 2024 presidential election and has a message, especially for young people. “I tell them to make sure to vote because at one time I couldn’t vote or do anything.”
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson, born in Sulpher Springs, West Virginia in 1918 was a lifelong Methodist. An African American mathematician, she was responsible for calculating orbital paths for spacecraft to orbit earth and land on the moon. She lived to be 101 and remained active in her local church until her death in Newport News, Virginia. Against the odds, she overcame racism and sexism to become a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) legend and a strong advocate for voting rights, and racial and gender justice for women.
Marybelle Pryor Trimble
Marybelle Pryor Trimble was born in Montgomery, Alabama and experienced the South’s brutal segregation. She sat in the back of the bus going to high school. At home, she listened to her father Julius Pryor Sr. speak about the work of the Montgomery NAACP. She advocated for voting rights as part of her story and my story as a living descendent within a community that was prohibited from voting for decades. Once she could vote freely, as a former schoolteacher and active United Methodist, she voted with the common good in mind. What is best for the children? Who cares about the environment? Who represents the rights of women and the poor? Who will lead both with strength and humility?
United Methodists’ Blind Spot to Shy Away from Politics
As United Methodists, we often have a blind spot and a tendency to shy away from politics and political discourse as being antithetical to our Christian Discipleship. I believe our faith and our church’s Social Principles should assist us in prayerful discernment.
“Our involvement in political systems is rooted in the Gospel imperative to love our neighbors, to do justice and to care for the vulnerable. As United Methodist we acknowledge that love requires responsible political action and engagement aimed at the betterment of society and the promotion of the common good.” Social Principles Political Community
At the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the United Methodist building, I shared the following "separation of church and state” remarks in front of this United Methodist Historic Landmark, erected in 1924 on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
“In the United States, many of us were raised to revere a particular narrative about the separation of church and state. That its founding purpose was to safeguard from those in power exercising their will over the faith journey of another. There shall be no established state religion. And this is well and good, something to be elevated and indeed revered. But it is only one part of the Story. When we pan the proverbial lens back to take in the great breadth of the human story, we can see that there is an equally critical side to this essential principle of the separation of church and state, one that acknowledges that the relationship between church and state goes in both directions. The separation of church and state is foundational to the free exercise of the prophetic voice. It is the necessary context that enables those of conviction to have the ability to hold those with power accountable. We recognize and celebrate that separation of church and state is not a locked door. It is a dance between those who advocate and those at the deciding table, and when such is the meeting of people of good faith with hearts for servant leadership, the possibility of miracles abound.”
President Abraham Lincoln once said the role of the government is to “Lift all artificial weights from its citizens and clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all.”
Jesus’ command was that we “Love each other as I have Loved You” John 15:12
From a United Methodist perspective, voting is both a right and a privilege that we need not divorce from our faith.
Be encouraged.