Colson to Noll: Get Out of Utopia

Evangelical leader Chuck Colson has criticized Mark Noll for espousing a "none of the above" approach to the election. Colson argues that Noll's position:

is dead wrong and damaging to democracy. It’s the utopian notion which assumes divine perfection in fallen humans. His assumption that we can support only candidates who have perfect scores according to our reading of the Bible makes me wonder how he votes at all. And if that’s the standard, all of us should stop voting.

But that’s exactly what the fundamentalist movement did in the early part of the twentieth century, the movement Mark Noll so correctly criticizes. Their error was allowing perfectionism to get in the way of their responsibility to act for the common good. It’s an error we can’t afford to repeat—not this year, not ever.

Voting is not an option for Christians. It’s a biblical duty, because by voting we carry out God’s agency; we are His instruments for appointing leaders. Just like Samuel in the Old Testament, we are commissioned to find the very best people we can who are best able to lead us. Not to vote, or to turn down both presidential candidates because they’re not perfect on a biblical score sheet, is a dereliction of biblical responsibility.

Read the rest here. (Thanks to CT for the lead.)

I'm wondering, would Colson insist on a Christian's duty to vote regardless of the options? Hitler versus Mussolini? It's an easy case for Colson to make now, because he's a big fan of Bush's, but were he to face the moral conflict that many pro-life progressives are facing, would it be so easy for him?

Rob