It is widely believed, and supported by reasonable evidence, that if Christians had voted in larger numbers in 2012 instead of sitting it out, Obama would not have won the election. While there are some who do not believe this, it cannot be denied that the Christian community could be having far more political impact than it currently does, simply by participating in the process. And this is where Ben Carson comes in.
In his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference — also known as CPAC — in which he announced the end of his campaign, Carson also announced his new job as national chairman of My Faith Votes.
My Faith Votes is a non-partisan group that focuses primarily on getting Christians to vote in elections. Its self-described objective is to “rise up as a relevant and non-partisan movement of the church in America that will motivate believers to act on their faith by casting an informed vote based on a biblical worldview.
“What I love about My Faith Votes is it helped people to recognize that being a person of faith does not delete the responsibility to take part in the society in which you are living,” Carson said. “Someone’s faith is integrated into everything one does, so clearly it will have an impact on everything they do, including their voting. This moment in history is perhaps the most critical period in the history of the United States.
“People of faith can make a difference, when you look at the number of evangelicals, 25 million who didn’t vote last time. And the margin of difference between the candidates, 5 million votes. You can see that it would have made the biggest difference. Last time was critical, but this time it’s life and death in terms of America as we know it. We absolutely must take this opportunity to make ourselves be felt.”