I graduated from an interdenominational Bible college in the 70s. It was an independent school without connection to any organized or disorganized denomination. We studied the word of God with a passion for the transformation that would make us holy and put us in the first rapture. One of its cultural features was a dislike for anything secular, including voting. There was also a great deal of talk about wives submitting to their husbands.
Now I know those who know me and are reading this might need a good whack on the back right about now because you are likely choking on this disclosure, but it is time for me to come clean. I was a Pentecostal fundamentalist housewife/student. Of course, the handwriting was on the wall back then—I wouldn’t make it as a fundamentalist because I was too strong-willed and enthused about the example set by Jesus. Plus, I married a wonderful man who appreciates intelligent and strong women.
I voted then and now
Yet, even though the institutions I attended 33 years ago did not support it (or know it), I voted in every election. I voted then, and I vote now!
The right to vote is a precious one. Plenty of people around the world wish they could vote for their leadership. In our own country, women weren’t allowed to vote until August 26, 1920. The suffrage movement was a fierce one. As a person of color, I know how this country’s racial history has made voting dicey for many of us! While men of African descent were given this right in 1870, many states refused them the freedom to exercise it until 1965.
My point is that the right to vote is something people can die wishing they had.
So, this is my get-out-and-vote-blog. Never think things are as they must be. Instead, consider how God’s people can change things! I hope you vote. I pray you do because it matters!
I hope you will vote for the common good rather than any special interest. We must share this country with each other and this planet with other nations. Voting is one way to participate in that sharing.
This Throwback Thursday blog by Inez Torres Davis first ran in October 2010. Download our free updated resource, “Called to be political” to explore the Christian call and responsibility of civic engagement. Please, exercise your right to vote Nov. 3.
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