Why I choose candidates who defend my values over those who despise them

Kamala Harris has been speaking at churches over the past few weeks, including congregations in Atlanta and Philadelphia. While President Trump is expected to gain strong support from white evangelicals, Harris appears to be aiming for similar backing among black Christians. However, she represents a party whose top policy priorities — such as abortion and Pride Month celebrations — conflict with biblical teachings.

In politics, I believe values should always trump skin color. My faith shapes my views and my vote, even though I understand that no party or candidate can fully align with my beliefs. Ideally, a Christian should seek a candidate who shares, embodies, and legislates biblical values. This is the kind of leader with the character, understanding, and temperament to promote policies that support civil order and human flourishing. While some argue that morality can’t be legislated, few would dispute the need for laws against theft, perjury, or murder.

If using the Bible to dismantle racial discrimination was righteous in 1964, why is it hateful to use it to defend the unborn and uphold the sex binary in 2024?

Every law reflects someone’s belief system. Politicians with strong convictions on family, education, and public safety issues will often champion these values, even when others shy away. The principled politician uses the bully pulpit to promote a positive cultural vision, resisting the fierce political headwinds that protect the status quo.

Sometimes, no candidate running shares your values. When that happens, I turn to the next tier of candidates — those who respect, accept, and defend my values. For example, a politician doesn’t need to be a church deacon to see the hypocrisy of a city prohibiting a congregation from gathering outdoors during COVID-19 while allowing a large political march a month before a presidential election. Similarly, a candidate who sends their child to a private school can still advocate school choice policies that benefit working-class families.

On the other hand, a politician who sends their kids to an expensive private school but opposes programs that would extend this option to poor and working-class families represents the lowest tier of candidates. These politicians despise, condemn, and even criminalize my values. My primary identities are Christian, husband, and father — in that order. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a politician whose policies are hostile to any of these. Colorado baker Jack Phillips spent over a decade fighting frivolous lawsuits because progressives view Christians who don’t conform to LGBT ideology as bigots.

Yes, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on the ballot, but faithful Christians should see the 2024 election as less about a choice between two candidates and more about a clash of worldviews.

The vice president’s decision to make abortion the centerpiece of her campaign is a reflection of the modern left’s priorities. So was Joe Biden’s decision to appoint a man who “identifies” as a woman — Dr. “Rachel” Levine, born Richard — as the most visible figure in the nation’s public health system. Given the fact Harris bragged about providing surgery for transgender inmates while she was California’s attorney general, voters can expect even more radicalism if she becomes president.

It’s no surprise that the administration labels the social, chemical, and surgical “transition” of minors as “gender-affirming care” and criticizes conservative states attempting to ban such procedures on minors.

Democrats have elevated pride — a traditional deadly sin — to one of their three core virtues, alongside abortion and pagan Earth worship. This may sound simplistic to some, but progressives today are more vocal about promoting social norms tied to sexual orientation and gender identity than about advancing policies on labor or infrastructure.

This is why elected officials in federal, state, and local government all bow before the Pride flag. The mayor of New York City said drag queens are advancing a love of literacy in the nation’s largest school district. Wisconsin’s governor bragged on social media about signing a bill that would keep boys out of girls’ sports. In fact, it is far more difficult to find a congressional Democrat who affirms there are only two sexes than it is to find one who rejects the belief men can have babies.

The evidence is crystal clear: These aren’t your daddy’s Democrats.

On the other side is Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Like all slogans, people read meaning into those words in ways that sometimes sound absurd, including the assumption that the former president wants to return the country to the political and social norms of the Jim Crow South.

The core of the MAGA movement puts the interests of American citizens above those of foreign nations and international organizations. It advocates strong borders, lower taxes, domestic energy production, conservative judicial appointments, pro-life policies, a strong economy, law and order, school choice, and the natural family.

Nothing in this agenda conflicts with a Christian’s commitment to God. Loving our neighbors doesn’t mean encouraging them to reject their God-given bodies for a “gender identity” that leads to cross-sex hormones and genital mutilation.

Some Christians refuse to vote for Donald Trump due to his speech, demeanor, and conduct, arguing that character is an essential quality in a leader. However, a soft-spoken figure like Dr. Ben Carson can support both pro-manners and pro-MAGA policies, while today’s Democratic candidates at all levels of government align with pro-LGBT and pro-abortion agendas. Rejecting God’s creational work in Genesis isn’t a bug in the left’s political project — it’s a defining feature.

That said, an honest look at both parties should caution believers against equating the Republican Party with biblical values. I understand the concern. The GOP’s 2024 platform softened its language on key social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. Trump has criticized pro-life laws in Florida and other states as too strict, although he consistently maintains that abortion laws should be decided at the state level.

Many Christians view a vote for the Harris-Walz ticket as a vote for civility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Campaign surrogates use race and gender to persuade voters, from black men to white Christians, into supporting politicians who oppose their values. Americans — regardless of color — should not fall for this trap. If using the Bible to dismantle racial discrimination was righteous in 1964, why is it hateful to use it to defend the unborn and uphold the sex binary in 2024?