Why Churches Should Encourage Members to Vote
There is much at stake in the November 2016 elections. Will you exercise your duty and vote and encourage others to do the same?
The institution of government was ordained by God (Romans 13:1-4). It is our duty, as citizens and as Christians, to participate in the process. According to the late U.S. Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson, people of faith are more to blame for the nation’s woes than are politicians. Believers who are apathetic “abdicate their responsibility,” he said. He noted that lawmakers have authority to act only “with the consent of the governed. People of faith must understand the issues, vote intelligently, and advise elected representatives.”
Exercising our right to vote in elections is the most fundamental way to participate. Yet, surveys have shown that as few as one-half of church members who are eligible to vote are registered to vote, and not everyone who is registered actually votes on Election Day.
There is a great need for Christians to get out and vote. For this reason Concerned Women for America of California is encouraging voter registration drives and raising voter awareness. Download the What’s Your Vote Worth? brochure and the 2016 Party Platform Comparison. (To print the 2016 Party Platform Comparison simply print it double-sided on 8 ½” x 11” paper.)
Would you like to help register voters at your church? It’s an important, and permissible, activity. Because the voter registration deadline is October 24, we suggest that you start the process without delay, by contacting your church leadership and offering to help make this opportunity available to your congregation. Click here to download a helpful “how-to” guide.
Brown Signs Harmful Bills
As we anticipated, Gov. Brown signed the watered-down version of SB 1146 on September 30. While the most devastating portions of this bill were amended out, disclosure requirements remain and will begin to be enforced in the 2017-2018 school year. We now await what the bill’s author, Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) may have planned when the new legislative session begins in December.
Sadly, the governor also signed SB 524. Now, faith-based boarding schools like FACESS will be required to adhere to the same “community care licensing” structure under which California’s broken foster/group home programs are overseen, increasing costs to the organization and the parents whose daughters are enrolled for help and healing from the devastating effects of sexual exploitation. It is unclear right now what action FACESS may take to try to preserve the fine work they and groups like them are doing.
For more information on the bills we have supported and opposed during 2016, please see our latest Targeted Bills List here.
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying and acting on behalf of faith, family and freedom!
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