Are 32 Million Christians Really Planning to Sit Out the 2024 Election?

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How should Christians and pastors think about this? More importantly, what should they do?

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According to new research by George Barna’s Cultural Research Center, there are some 51 percent of people of faith who plan not to vote in the 2024 presidential election. That means some 104 million people who are eligible voters do not plan to vote. 

One hundred and four million people is a huge number, but how many actually attend church? According to Barna, some 32 million self-identified Christians who regularly attend church services do not plan to vote, and roughly 14 million evangelicals who regularly attend church services are expected not to vote.

There are a number of critically important issues that will be determined by this election and are not being discussed in churches today.  While nearly 2 out of 3 churches already address issues like religious liberty and wealth and poverty from the pulpit, many other critical topics are being left out.

Did you know? Less than 50 percent of pulpits in America discuss abortion, law and order, same-sex marriage, the role of government, the current Israeli conflict, transgenderism and the LGBT movement, and Immigration and border security.

According to Dr. Barna, pastors are the single greatest influence on whether Christians will vote in this election, swinging the difference in participation by millions of votes. And the election in 2020 was determined by a margin of 587,000 votes across 9 key battleground states.

It is true that so goes the pulpit, so goes the nation. If pastors will stand up in the pulpit, if pastors will speak to the cultural and political issues of our day with sound biblical teaching, if pastors would speak in meaningful ways to the most obvious moral challenges confronting our nation, the American political landscape could completely change.

And here’s the point: We are less than 30 days away from the most critical election of our lifetime and while voter registration has closed in some states, in many cases it is still not too late to jump in, get registered, and get engaged in this election.

Here are a couple of simple points that I think are important to remember.

To the Christian first: “Is it my duty to vote and participate in this election process as a Christian?” I believe that the plain evidence from Scripture is overwhelming in addressing this question for all Christians. The answer is yes.  

Our first command in the Gospel is to love God. Our second command is to love our neighbor. We absolutely have a shared responsibility in a constitutional republic to participate as citizen-kings and not abdicate our responsibility. 

Kings are responsible to rule and not abdicate. Today’s Christians in the United States have a responsibility to take part in civil government to ensure that good is promoted and evil is punished. How can you love your neighbor effectively? Inform yourselves of the issues that impact them and vote accordingly. 

Remember the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for the righteous to do nothing.

Second, this is my message for any pastor out there. Remember the warning of James the brother of Jesus: “Not many of you should become teachers…for you know that we who teach will judged more strictly” (James 3:1, NLT).

Pastors have a responsibility to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that Jesus Christ saves sinners, that our sins can be forgiven if we put our faith in Christ, because he is victorious over the grave; He is risen and He is coming again. And when Christ returns, he will rule and reign over this earth.

The Great Commission is about making disciples and teaching them to obey everything that Christ has commanded us.

Pastors: When is the last time you preached a message about the sanctity of life and abortion? 

When is the last time you preached about the sexualization of children and the mutilation of bodies in the name of transgenderism? 

When is the last time you spoke against the proper role of government from the pulpit — not a tyrant but a deacon of God’s justice to promote good while punishing evil? 

When is the last time you said anything about what is taking place in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict? 

Have you talked about mass illegal immigration, about the trafficking of human life, including thousands upon thousands of innocent women and children? 

Have you preached on the importance of justice and the rule of law, the importance of having an honest and transparent legal system?

This isn’t about right vs. left, this is about right vs. wrong. And no pastor should equivocate on right and wrong.

Pastors, my encouragement to you is to speak openly and honestly. Most Christians polled today say they want to hear their pastor communicate in a candid and straightforward way about the most pressing issues of our day.

I believe that if pastors would simply preach the whole counsel of God’s Word, it would leave no stone unturned when it comes to today’s politics and voting. We need God’s men speaking the obvious — in obvious ways and at obvious times.

The person who can make the single greatest difference in America is the pastor who will stand in the pulpit and speak the truth from God’s Word with full conviction and authority, not holding anything back. 

And while voting alone cannot save America — we know that — we should never be naïve to think that evil will not triumph when the righteous do nothing. So Christians, go vote. Pastors, go preach it.

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Editor’s Note: This article is a lightly edited transcript of the below podcast by Standing for Freedom Center Executive Director Ryan Helfenbein.

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