Voting My Religion: The Hypocrisy of the “Christian Right”

The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, but the fight for healthcare is not over. The GOP now has a rallying cry to drive its base to the polls. Evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics make up a large portion of the Republican base. As a Christian political theologian, I cannot help but see their opposition to “Obamacare” as an act of hypocrisy.

Maybe that is putting it too strongly. For the record, I think this hypocrisy is accidental. It is usually a kind of self-deception. Williams James is alleged to have said that when most people say they are thinking they are really just rearranging their prejudices (not me, of course). My point is that the Christian Right’s opposition to “Obamacare” is inconsistent with the rest of its politics.

Let me explain what I mean by telling a brief story. I was recently interviewed by Kevin Allen of Ancient Faith Today, a call-in radio program with a large following in the Orthodox Church (I am Eastern Orthodox). The topic was about gay marriage and Christian politics. My view is that what the state chooses to call a contractual relationship between two people of any sex should be of no concern to churches that consider marriage to be a sacrament. Sacraments are holy things, and the state has no power to sanctify.
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