[1]WASHINGTON (BP)–Saying America is at a crossroads on a host of significant moral issues, Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land is urging Christians to vote in Tuesday’s election and to remind their family and friends to vote.
“All elections are important. This one is critical,” Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said in an e-mail to constituents. “Over the past few years, Washington has taken a sharp turn in the wrong direction on many issues. We are now at a crossroads on life, marriage, religious liberty, and many other issues that should concern Christians. We cannot afford to sit this one out and continue down our present dangerous path.”
All 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats are on the ballot, as are 37 gubernatorial offices, state legislative seats and dozens of ballot initiatives.
“I urge you to prayerfully exercise your right as an American and responsibility as a Christian to cast your vote for the candidates who most closely share your values, beliefs, and convictions,” Land said. “Before you vote, please urge your family and friends to likewise drop by their voting precinct to vote for the candidates who are most committed to upholding and restoring the Judeo-Christian values that have made our nation great.
“Every vote counts.”
On Friday Baptist Press listed a series of Internet resources that help voters learn more about the candidates and where they stand. Following is that list:
[2]— Family Research Council Action has posted a scorecard listing how all 435 representatives and 100 senators voted on key bills. For House members, the scorecard tallies 16 key votes, such as health care, homosexual issues and abortion funding. The Senate scorecard is more extensive and lists 24 votes, not only on health care but also on confirmation votes. Visit www.frcaction.org/scorecard.
— Americans United for Life and National Right to Life have posted scorecards focusing solely on pro-life issues and how D.C. legislators voted. For the Americans United for Life scorecard, visit www.aulaction.org and click on “voting scorecard.” For the National Right to Life scorecard, visit www.NRLC.org and click on the “scorecard” icons on the right side of the page.
— VoterMind.com, a nonpartisan website, gives visitors a quiz on their beliefs about various issues and then asks them to rank which issues are most important. The website then shows the reader the candidates who most align with their beliefs, ranked in order of closest match. The creators of the website said the concept for the site began in 2008, when a poll in Iowa showed 40 percent of voters in the primary didn’t know who they would vote for a day before the election. Visit VoterMind.com.
— Project Vote Smart’s Vote Easy nonpartisan website shows candidates’ pictures and allows visitors to click on any of 12 issues (abortion, crime, economy, etc.). For each issue, the website lists which candidate best matches a visitor’s beliefs. Visit www.votesmart.org/voteeasy.
— The website www.Ballotpedia.com lists the ballot initiatives for every state. Click on “ballot measures” at www.Ballotpedia.com.
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Compiled by Michael Foust, an assistant editor of Baptist Press.