"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal
Here’s an article from 2004 that gives a good Lutheran perspective on politics and voting in response to an article from evangelical historian Mark Noll about not voting.
I don’t agree with it in all the particulars, and Christian pacifists will likely not be convinced, but I thought it was a solid statement of a “two kingdoms” perspective.
Which Christians have qualms about voting, anyway?
Certainly not the Christian right, not the Catholics, not the mainline folks.
Who?
Well, traditionally it’s only been certain anabaptists and other radical Protestants – Mennonites, Amish and the like – based on a view that Christians should take part in the activities of the coercive state. And even among them this isn’t a universal view (I know there are Amish who vote, e.g.).
More recently, there has been a strong current of “anti-Constantinianism” in mainstream academic theology (some of it influenced by anabaptism) that wants to disentangle the church from the power politics of the state, and some (though not all) of these folks have drawn the conclusion that Christians shouldn’t vote, hold poltical office, etc. For instance, Michael Budde, who I believe was a student of Stanley Hauerwas, takes this view. The idea is that the church is itself a countercultural “polis” and that Christians should forswear allegiance to any earthly commonwealth.
As far as I can tell, this position is confined to a relatively small number of theologians and hasn’t trickled down to the laity to any significant degree. Though, needless to say, there are plenty of people who opt not to drag themselves to the polls for other reasons.
Um, that should be “should NOT take part…” in the first paragraph of my last comment.
Thanks.
A Thinking Reed 
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