wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Why I'm voting on the world's behalf

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Note #8461 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04370
August 20, 2004

Why I'm voting on the world's behalf

Commentary by Aimee Moiso
Special to the Presbyterian News Service

Editor's Note: Aimee Moiso is an M.Div. student at San Francisco Theological
Seminary and attended the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches as a participant in its Global Institute of Theology. She has also
contributed to Horizons and Presbyterians Today. - Jerry L. Van Marter.

SAN ANSELMO, CA - I was sitting in a plenary session at the General Council
of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) when a sudden thought
struck me: a lot of people around the world would probably give large sums of
money to be able to vote in the U.S. election in November.

This idea was not born of anyone actually offering me money for my vote, of
course. Instead, it came from the realization that the decisions made by the
government of the United States continue to have a dramatic impact on the
rest of the world.

Delegates and visitors gathered in Accra, Ghana, for the WARC General Council
July 30-Aug. 13 heard presentation after presentation about the negative
effects of global economic injustice. Speakers used statistics, photographs,
analysis and personal testimony to express their anger, frustration, sadness
and resolve about the economic order that leaves so many mired in abject
poverty and plunders the environment for financial gain.

The global economic system as it currently functions primarily benefits the
wealthiest and most powerful among us while the most vulnerable are left
behind. Neo-liberal economic ideology that supports unlimited growth and
unrestrained accumulation of capital has put profits ahead of the needs of
people and has commodified the natural world and its resources.

In Accra the WARC General Council - comparable to a PC(USA) General Assembly
- denounced the consequences of this economic system as contrary to God's
desire for humans and creation. As the Council's summary document stated,
"How can we say that we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life
and not stand against all that denies the promise of fullness of life to the
world?"

None of the speakers claimed that the United States alone is to blame for
widespread economic oppression. More importantly, no one even hinted that the
U.S. church condones the evident and growing gulf between rich and poor
people in our world that results from oppression.

But in truth, the United States has a large hand in the global imbalance that
threatens life for millions of God's children. We who are citizens of this
nation live in the world's last remaining economic, political and military
superpower. Because we wield the power, the decisions of our elected leaders
affect the global community every day.

And that's why I think many people would pay to have my vote this November.

The members of the WARC who gathered in Ghana made clear the threats to life
that deny the fullness promised by Jesus. Our brothers and sisters in Christ
around the world have raised their voices - and we have joined their song -
to proclaim that only Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life. The question
that remains is how American Presbyterians will respond to this call.

We who are part of the worldwide Reformed family and live in this nation have
a unique responsibility not only to vote regularly, but to vote with a global
conscience.

For my part, when I cast my vote this November, and in all elections to come,
I will think of Howard, who told me about the horrors of the AIDS pandemic in
Kenya; Hannah, who described the changes to Taiwanese culture because of
globalization; Charles, who lamented the lack of access to education in
Brazil; and Joseph, who stressed the need for continued debt relief in Ghana.

I won't ever sell my vote. And with God's help, I also hope to never take it
for granted.

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