I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and the issue of politics in general and gay marriage in particular came up.  In the midst of our conversation, my friend noted that the whole issue raised the question of whether or not it was appropriate for Christians to try to impose our religious viewpoint on secular society.  It is a statement I hear frequently and often, especially on news websites in comment sections.

That has always bothered me, and I think I’m starting to figure out why.

If the statement means that the Church should not seek the violent overthrow of the United States government and the establishment of a theocracy in the United States of America, of course I would agree.  I know of no Christian calling for such and I know of no arena in which he would not be rebuked or laughed out of the room for the suggestion.  I do not deny that such an arena exists somewhere, but it exists on the utter fringes where all such kookiness of whatever stripe exists.

If the statement means that individual religious groups should not seek the national codification and enactment of their particular ecclesial traditions on the American public, I agree again.  I would be the first to oppose a movement to make the Southern Baptist Convention our national denomination.  The Constitution speaks clearly against such a notion, and, even if it did not, I would oppose it anyway as an absurd notion in a free country.

So if the statement about not imposing our religious views on secular society does not refer to a literal overthrow of the government or the creation of a state church, the only other avenue it can refer to is the ballot box:  either in the sense of electing Christian officials or in the sense of individual Christians voting their consciences in the voting booth from a Christian perspective.  In the case of something like gay marriage, the argument is being employed to suggest that voting from a Christian perspective on the definition of marriage is an unjust imposition.  But if the statement refers to this, then I have real qualms for these reasons:

• I have a sneaking suspicion that the idea of “the Church’s religious views” and “everybody else’s secular views” is really carrying the idea of “the Church’s special interest, niche, idiosyncratic views” and “everybody else’s normal, neutral views.”  In point of fact, there are no “secular” views.  There are just views, Christian or otherwise.  Which leads me to this…

• Everybody, from the most faithful Christian to the most strident atheist, is voting from a particular ideological vantage point.  There are no neutral views in America.  Every view is a view from a particular perspective.  Which leads me to this…

• Every vote is therefore, by its nature, the singular, attempted imposition of a particular viewpoint on the American process.  A purely secular person is voting the ideology of post-Enlightenment modernity.  A purely atheistic person is voting the ideology of mechanistic materialism.  A pro-gay-marriage extremist is voting the ideology of 21st century neo-hedonistic sexual anarchy and moral relativism.  A New Testament Christian is voting from the perspective of Christian orthodoxy.  Which raises the question…

• Why does nobody ever say to the thoroughgoing materialist, “Do not think you can impose your view of naked scientism, atheism, and materialism on the American public”?  But that is not a statement I would even make, because…

• All votes emanate from ideological premises and the right to vote from whatever perspective is a guarded and cherished right.  There are no epistemological vacuums from which to vote, and there literally is no vote without attempted individual imposition of the ideology which has gripped the voter.

Therefore, the statement, “Christians should not seek to impose their religious views on others,” is not quite so simple as it sounds, especially if it is assuming the mythical notion of a vote of non-imposition and especially if it is assuming that Christian ideology is the only ideology from which one might vote.

To conclude, America is a melting pot not only of people but of viewpoints.  I assume that people vote who they are.  Christianity is not afraid to compete in the arena of ideas.  In fact, the truth of the gospel has been gripping minds and hearts for two millennia now.  But the suggestion that “the Christian voter” is an anomaly, or is violating some unspoken rule if he votes from his vantage point, is an absurdity, the practical implications of which, if pushed to their logical conclusion, would derail the entire American political process.