“You shall love your neighbor as yourself…” Lev 19:18

The Amish are my neighbors now. We hear the clip-clop of the horse-drawn buggies pass by our house. We see them at the farmer’s markets and their roadside stands. We buy their fresh eggs. We eat their whoopie pies. From beards to suspenders, straw hats to aprons, there is not a more “conservative” bloc of voters than this cloistered yet principled, simple folk. 

The believer’s response to “love thy neighbor” is visceral and spontaneous. Perhaps no phrase is more distinctly Christian. Few imperatives elicit more soul-searching. There are, after all, only two commandments which we are told to keep. We must unreservedly love God. Of course. And then we must love our neighbors. Jesus then framed this command with the timeless parable of the Good Samaritan to punctuate His point. It was an instant classic.

That His words would be turned into a slogan or political wedge to trigger people—as a guilt bomb, to play the shame game and push an agenda—is quite offensive to me. Quoting scripture may be used to give one’s position an authoritative cloak and an air of moral superiority. Abusing scripture, on the other hand, is a serious transgression and invites God’s wrath upon those who do it intentionally and to manipulate. God have mercy!

It turns out it’s not only Christians who have figured out the power of this now popularized catch phrase used to red pill believers about everything from climate change to the covid vaccine. Even Gavin Newsom got a “revelation”, putting up billboards in Texas advertising his state’s up-to-birth abortion laws under the banner: “California is Ready to Help. Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”.*

It has also been used ad nauseam to justify support for open borders. This PC campaign esteems “Compassion” as the highest of all virtues. Even if it means breaking our laws, compromising our sovereignty and security, and simultaneously accepting minor inconveniences such as: tens of thousands of deaths due to fentanyl, unfettered rape of female migrants, mind-numbing human trafficking statistics, and unscalable gang violence in our cities. Aren’t all the traumatized and victimized American citizens also, or even more so, our neighbors? Wasn’t Laken Riley our neighbor?! Or are we supposed to believe “compassion” for her Venezuelan illegal immigrant killer is the moral high ground? 

I have lived overseas for most of my life. Perhaps this explains why I did not get the memo that Christian leaders should not talk about politics. While we are rightly cautioned to beware of the “leaven of Herod” (Mk 8:15); to ignore politics or culture that affects our freedoms, values, justice, and prosperity is akin to inviting disciples into our rowboat and forget the oars. It is the “leaven” that is the problem: allowing unseen and insidious forces to proliferate unchecked in our spirits, clouding our minds, dividing our allegiance. 

To dismiss or ignore politics—to disengage or to be willy-nilly of its potential for good and for evil—is foolish and harmful. We may find ourselves floating in the sea of irrelevance, or worse yet, paddling in the current of the Third Reich, just like the passive and voiceless church of Germany had done. Their verdict? Complicity may be too kind. Accessory, defined as one who assists, but does not actually participate, in the commission of a crime, is probably a more accurate indictment. 

And yet 41 million Christians are predicted NOT to vote in the upcoming election. Though we have the opportunity to stem the tide of illegals pouring across our borders, or stop needless wars, or become energy independent again, or protect the sanctity of life—even life in the womb, to sit there and do nothing is not just ambivalent, it is callous. Your neighbor’s daughter may be “transitioning” to become a boy right now, groomed by a radicalized teacher at the public school down the street, then given puberty blockers, and counseled to have a mastectomy. How do we love our neighbors exactly?

In 1972 a landmark Supreme Court ruling was made in favor of Amish fathers who refused to send their children to public school on religious grounds. Despite their stereotypical turtle-shelled and apolitical persona, they rose up to fight for their freedoms. 52 years later, the Smaug in them is stirring again. Fed up by all the insane regulations and heavy taxes the government has burdened them with these last few years, the Amish will be going to the polls in record numbers. They want to make a stand for the rights of the unborn. They are incensed that their religion and speech liberties are threatened. They don’t want their taxes paid by the sweat of their own brows spent on sex change surgeries for convicted felons. So while millions of evangelical Christians wallow in their apathy and indifference, the Amish buggies will be rockin’ on November 6th.

I am volunteering to drive them to the polls. Seems like the neighborly thing to do. 

• If you are interested in a detailed research into the “Love Your Neighbor” ploy, including the NIH’s push to get “skeptical” Christians on board with their mandate by employing an advertising campaign entitled “Love Your Neighbor, Get the Shot”, check out Megan Basham’s Shepherds for Sale. You won’t want to put it down.