It’s election season, which means candidates across the country are once again competing not just for votes but for divine endorsement. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is releasing a book titled Go and Do Likewise—a transparent appeal to convince Christians that God’s politics lean left. Meanwhile, Texas State Rep. James Talarico is making his master’s in divinity degree a centerpiece of a progressive U.S. Senate campaign. The message from both is the same: God is with us … on the left.
Republicans have been making similar arguments for generations, but they disagree in meaningful ways with Democrats. So how do we know whose side God is on?
In some ways it’s a silly question. God is not a Republican or a Democrat. He is the standard by which all will be judged. And since every candidate is a sinner, they will fail God’s standard of perfection in some ways. The fact that we are all imperfect, however, does not mean that every choice is morally equivalent.
Jesus warned his followers not to neglect the “weightier matters of the law” and taught about logs and specks for a reason: Some issues carry more moral weight than others. It’s right to expect a respectful attitude from your children, but if you discover a bomb in their backpack on their way to school, you may have to prioritize which problem you want to deal with first. Treating every political disagreement as spiritually equivalent is an evasion.
When it comes to human flourishing, what does God consider important? You don’t have to wonder. Genesis 1 and 2 give us the foundation for healthy human civilization: identity rooted in being made in God’s image as male and female, family formed through marriage between a man and a woman, and purpose expressed through fruitfulness, stewardship, and dominion over creation. These aren’t minor details. They are, according to Scripture, the architecture of human flourishing in a world without sin.
The political left formally opposes every one of these things. Affirmation of the biological reality of male and female is called bigotry. Marriage defined as the union of a man and a woman is called discrimination. The call to be fruitful and multiply is answered with “my body, my choice.” And the command to rule and steward the earth has been replaced by an ideology in which human presence is itself the problem.
The progressive response is to say they care about the poor, the vulnerable, and the environment, and God does too. Shouldn’t that count for something? Of course it should. Caring for the poor is good and right and thoroughly biblical. But goodness in one area doesn’t neutralize a sustained campaign against the created order. The relevant test isn’t whether you do some things God approves of. It’s what you do when culture and God come into direct conflict. When you consistently side with culture in opposition to God, you aren’t on God’s team.
Whenever the anti-Christ nature of leftist politics is laid bare, the most common response is, “But Republicans are so mean.” Fair enough. While there are kind people and unkind people in every political tribe, there is evidence to support the point. But what is the relevance? Should we really throw our support behind the genital mutilation of children because some of the people opposing it don’t control their tongue in the way Jesus wants us to?
Two things can be true simultaneously: The left may be fighting God, and the right includes imperfect people. We need not canonize the right to acknowledge what’s happening on the left.
People fighting God have always claimed to be on God’s side. Eve believed eating the fruit would make her more like God. The people who crucified Jesus believed they were acting in God’s name. The claim of divine endorsement tells us precisely nothing about whether that endorsement exists.
The real question is simpler: Is this person genuinely, if imperfectly, pursuing truth—even when it costs them something? Or have they constructed a version of God that conveniently agrees with everything they already believe and never requires anything they don’t already want to do? That’s not God. That’s a mascot they bring out during campaign season.
If you want a quick test, try this: Ask the candidate whether men can get pregnant. The answer—and more importantly, the reasoning behind it—will tell you a great deal about where they think truth comes from and, consequently, whose side they’re on.
That’s the real question this election season. Who is willing to be bound by something outside themselves?
