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The well-known skeptic and author Mark Twain once said of Christians:
"It will be conceded that a Christian's first duty is
to God. It then follows, as a matter of course, that it is his duty
to carry his Christian code of morals to the polls and vote them.
Whenever he shall do that, he will not find himself voting for an
unclean man, a dishonest man. If Christians would vote their duty
to God at the polls, they would carry every election, and do it
with ease. Their prodigious power would be quickly realized and
recognized, and afterward there would be no unclean candidates upon
any ticket, and graft would cease. If the Christians of America
could be persuaded to vote God and a clean ticket, it would bring
about a moral revolution that would be incalculably beneficent.
It would save the country." (Colliers magazine, September
2, 1904)
The Barna Research
Group has reported that this year's tight presidential race
will be greatly influenced by the faith of those voting! In the
Barna survey, when people were asked why they would choose Kerry
over Bush, they responded, "he's not George Bush." Nearly
44% of Kerry supporters gave this answer.
Of those who support the re-election of President Bush, 25% cited
his job performance; 18% cited his character, 14% cited his handling
of foreign policy; and 12% cited the integration of his faith and
moral views into his decisions.
According to Barna, "If the election were held today, Mr.
Bush would be re-elected by a small margin. … However, these
next five months will be critical in seeing where the undecided
voters land. They comprise one-fifth of the likely voters."
The Christian vote is essential this year! In the election of 2000,
Christian voters gave the margin of victory to President Bush. According
to Barna's statistics, there were slightly less than 50 million
Christian voters in 2000 and slightly more than 55 million non-Christian
voters. Forty-eight percent of the voters were self-described Christians.
Of those 50 million Christian voters, 57% voted for Bush; 42% voted
for Al Gore!
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