How to Use Prayer to Ease Political Anxiety

But for a “gust of wind,” America could have two different presidential candidates than we expected just ten days ago. Former President Donald Trump came within two millimeters of dying on July 13th, according to a security expert who noted that Mr. Trump was “a gust of wind away” from being assassinated. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told lawmakers yesterday that the shooting was her agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades. “We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations,” she added. “We must learn what happened.”

On the other side of the aisle, the Biden campaign has officially renamed itself “Harris for President.”

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s presidential nominee. She raised $81 million in the first twenty-four hours since President Biden ended his bid and endorsed her. Numerous party leaders—most notably Nancy Pelosi—have endorsed her as well. Various options for her running mate are already being discussed.

Not since 1976 have we seen a presidential election without a Biden, Bush, or Clinton on the ticket (assuming Hillary Clinton is not nominated for vice-president).

Are you anxious about the election?

If the political turmoil of these days is stressing you, you’re not alone.

In an American Psychiatric Association poll, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they’re feeling anxious about the election. Another poll found that nearly 40 percent are depressed or anxious about the election season, and a similar share said they are “checked out” by the amount of news and social media attention on politics and the upcoming election.

We have good reason to feel the way we do: fueled by rhetoric that demonizes political opponents, our politics are more visceral than ever and thus more violent.

Jonathan Tobin, editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, explains that our toxic political environment “starts with the bifurcation of the press and the way social media dominates our lives,” reinforcing the belief that our opponents “are not well-meaning neighbors and compatriots who are simply mistaken, but evil people who intend to do us harm.”

Now, due in large part to the “splintering of the media,” Tobin warns that we have “a culture in which the most strident beliefs prevail over those that advocate for a gentler approach to differences.” Accordingly, “very few people trust the media or what anyone who isn’t on their side says.” Until the media and politicians “cease characterizing their opponents as beyond the pale,” in his view, “things will continue to get worse before they can start getting better.”

The “founding generation’s syllogism”

Political divisions are nothing new in American history. In To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment, Bret Baier describes the fragmentation and chaos that threatened the future of our nascent republic before our Constitution forged a united nation from disparate states and agendas. From that time to this, as commentator Nick Bryant notes, “the country has been in a perpetual state of division.”

How could it be otherwise?

Our original thirteen colonies spanned a geography and sociology larger and more diverse than most countries of the world. We then grew to become the fourth-largest nation on earth by land mass. Our population is composed of nearly 1,500 race and ethnicity groups. We should obviously not be surprised when differences of opinion and worldview divide us.

But the framers of our republic knew something we do well to recall. According to James Hutson of the Library of Congress, they believed that republican government requires a moral citizenry and that religion is necessary for morality. He suggests that this belief was so widespread that it should be called the “founding generation’s syllogism.”

And not just any religion. Except for about two thousand Jews, Americans of European descent identified as Christians. In a 1799 election sermon, Jedidiah Morse preached a sermon in which he observed that it is

“To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys.”

I am not claiming that all the Founders were practicing orthodox Christians. But I agree with Rev. Morse that they respected our faith and its moral teachings. And I believe that the “kindly influence of Christianity” should promote “civil freedom and political and social happiness” across our nation still today.

“Speak evil of no one”

As we noted yesterday, when we experience the living Lord Jesus in a transforming way, we become more like him (Romans 8:29). We manifest the fruit of his Spirit, the first of which is love (Galatians 5:22). As a result, “we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

This is the only way we can obey Jesus’ mandate to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). It is the only power by which we can “love one another . . . just as I have loved you” (John 13:34). It is the only means by which we can “let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14).

When we love as we are loved, we will not slander or demean those with whom we disagree, on social media or in any other way (cf. James 4:11). We will intercede for our leaders, especially when we disagree with them (1 Timothy 2:1–2). We will obey God’s command “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2).

Imagine the difference in America if every American Christian heeded this call.

Let’s do so today. I am praying daily for Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and the other leaders of their parties to:

Embrace and champion biblical morality in their lives and through their influence (2 Timothy 2:15).
Promote the healing of our nation by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
Be servants who put the well-being of our country ahead of their personal agendas (Galatians 5:13).

And I am asking the Holy Spirit to help America’s Christians experience Christ so fully that we love everyone he loves as he loves us.

Will you join me?

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.