Why I Don’t Make Swift Endorsements

Unless you live under a rock, you know that the second most anticipated endorsement of the presidential election finally happened: Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris. Don’t hold your breath for the most anticipated: I won’t be making an endorsement. (And maybe you shouldn’t either.)

In our social media-crazed era, everyone makes “endorsements.” Joining Facebook in 2006 was the first time I learned the unusual political dispositions of friends and family. I can’t say I’ve ever seen it as a net gain in life to know everyone’s full political platform.

Everyone shares relentlessly now. For a while, I did too. I attended a political rally during my time in seminary and shared the cool photos of the candidates on my Facebook wall. I followed favorite candidates on social media. I even did a little campaign promotional work.

My thinking started to change as I graduated from seminary and found myself teaching and preparing to become a pastor. A colleague of opposite political persuasion dug through my social media, spotted I’d merely liked a reasonably non-controversial political figure and made it into a big deal.

Was that an overreaction? Oh yes. But it still challenged me to think about how even mildly tipping my partisan hand could turn into a distraction from my calling to preach and teach about Jesus.

“One can be a partisan to only one master,” as it were. Do I want other people to think of me as a partisan for anyone other than Jesus?

The Swift endorsement is demonstrative. While she will not lose any sleep over the limited number of people who angrily set aside her music because of her political speech, the number is not zero. Every time a public figure becomes outspoken on politics, some people will be offended.

That’s fine and good if it is music and the musician makes a business decision to risk that. But, I’m not selling albums, I’m sharing the hope of Jesus. One person who doesn’t hear about Jesus because they are offended by my preference for an elephant or donkey is too many for me.

A vocal segment of both liberal and conservative Christians argue that pastors should be partisans. The reasoning is similar regardless of political persuasion: God cares about morality and politics has the power to determine laws and execute them, either morally or not.

Offense caused by political speech, then, isn’t needless offense over debatable matters, but equivalent to offense caused by the Ten Commandments. If I’m willing to speak about the things God says are important, shouldn’t I take these stands for morality?

How can I worm my way out of this? I do speak about the Ten Commandments and other commands from God, after all. How, in an election like our present one, where both sides claim the other is going to end life as we know it, can I stay off to the side?

A few reasons I hope my fellow Christians (and others who simply dislike the present divisive political moment) will consider:

First, moral change starts in individuals, not countries. It’s notable that while the early followers of Jesus prayed for the evil leaders of their lands, they did not try to change the leadership structure of their lands. That change did happen, but it changed because Christianity grew by individuals coming to believe and living faithfully in the way Scripture said they should.

Put simply: the most just human set of laws applied by the most just human leader would fall short. Worse, even to the extent it was reasonably just, it wouldn’t make the people of the land just. Some would move toward morality, but many would only maintain the appearance in as much as it kept them from getting in trouble. (Think of how people speed until they see a police car.)

That’s not to say we have no moral concerns about our laws — we should want them to be just — but as a Christian, I know far more good comes from me loving my neighbor and lovingly sharing about Jesus than sharing about “policies Jesus likes.”

Second, what are the laws Jesus would like? To the extent that we can say, they don’t fit neatly into one partisan box. Each party has blind spots, areas it overemphasizes or underemphasizes and so on. Both stand for truth in certain areas, while spreading lies in other realms.

I want to speak where I feel like a position is a clear Biblical application, not where a party platform demands it. I want to be able to stand for the unborn, the poor, the elderly and the migrant at the same time. I want to stand for Ukraine and Israel.

Anyone who says he or she follows Jesus needs to think about how people might interpret a mix of sharing Scripture and partisan rhetoric. Do I want to risk the worst parts of my favored party being seen as a part of what it means to follow Jesus?

If people are going to be offended by something I say, I sure want it to be because I’m saying something true from God’s Word and not because I’m a political junkie. I don’t want people to reject Jesus because they think Jesus stands for the most abhorrent, genuinely wrong parts of my chosen party.

Third, sometimes the problem isn’t outright errors of a political party, but simply areas Scripture is relatively silent. For example, the Bible cares about justice for the poor, but it doesn’t speak to specific economic approaches.

I have a strong set of viewpoints on economics, but I know those are founded on my understanding of how the world works and how economic policies have worked in the past. Others of good will look at the same data and come to different conclusions, even if they care about the same Biblical concerns.

For example, is the right way to help care more of those who are sick a government mandates on health insurance or does that drive costs up and make it even harder to survive? Is private insurance superior to single-payer socialized coverage? What should be covered and what should not be?

I have a strong sense of what I think makes sense on these questions, but they are informed by my reason and experience. I’m suspicious if anyone provides a Biblical text to explain why one approach to healthcare policy is morally superior.

I believe my take is right, but I could be wrong. So, I tremble at the thought of implying these things are in any way Scriptural.

So, no, I won’t be endorsing anyone this presidential cycle or next or the one after that, either. I will vote and I will have opinions, but, if only by necessity of my calling, those opinions will remain like they did for most people in the pre-Internet era: locked in my own brain, unknown to the wondering world.