Like many religious persons, I have watched this presidential election with particular interest. As far as religion is concerned, this election has posed interesting dilemmas, perspectives, and insights into the status of religion in the public square in America.

First, the election has posed a diversity of religious backgrounds for both tickets. Never before has the country voted amongst two Catholics, a Mormon, and a liberationist-evangelical Protestant for vice-president, and president, respectively.

Second, we have seen religious issues expand and distort in their logical (or illogical) conclusions. Consider the expansion of pro-life views on the Right extending to pregnancies resulting from rape and incest, and even in cases that endanger the life of the mother. This has pitted some GOP candidates at odds with the evangelical base, and has found others lacking in the theological and biological finesse to grapple with such issues.

Third, we have seen commitments of religious leaders and religious institutions to remain non-partisan on candidates fall apart. Almost a month ago, 1,500 pastors stepped into their pulpits and knowingly defied 501(c)(3) non-profit regulations by endorsing a political candidate as church leaders.

This past week, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Richard Land, both evangelical beacons in their own right, defied long-standing traditions of non-partisanship by throwing their weight behind Mitt Romney. (In the case of Land, this comes even after working against Romney throughout the Republican primaries.) After years of piercing rhetoric about the cultic nature of Mormonism and promises to not endorse candidates, these leaders and institutions have let these commitments crumble in the face of political expediency. Perhaps this election really is that important. Or maybe it is, as Stephen Prothero has suggested, evidence that movements such as the Religious Right were entirely about political power rather than evangelical integrity.

The religious ethos of this election has been palpable, despite such a mixed bag of pluralism, and these instances are just a little proof of that.

Like many religious leaders engaged in politics, I have found myself on an emotional roller coaster. I have zealously worked towards a better understanding of the issues, attempting to remain committed to my own personal religious while being open to the greater common good. I have anxiously watched debate after debate and speech after speech.

I have been joyful, I have been angry, I have been hurt, I have been moved to action, and I have been challenged.

I have been living in the eternal paradox that is my yearning for my values and convictions to be realized on election day, yet also my yearning for wholeness and unity amidst great diversity, for compromise, and for the work of the common good.

And finally, I have turned to prayer. Many have urged Christians to pray this election season, and like them, I have been praying for my side to win. In one sense, prayer comes at the point when you realize that you have done all that you can do, now it is time to appeal to higher power.

But in my praying, I have been challenged yet again. After all, prayers for my side to win are selfish prayers. And what of those prayers if my side doesn’t win? Has God failed me? Does the president I did not vote for deserve my prayers? Does the work of religious people only matter in the public square if the candidates we want to win are elected?

With all the religious overtones leading up to the election, I wonder how many of us will be willing to pray after the election is over? Because in another sense, prayer comes when we turn over to God the things only God can to – bring unity, bring reconciliation, bring healing.

I wonder if we can step back and pray the hardest prayer of all: “God bring healing to our nation and help our country work for good in the world, even when our candidate does not win the election.” This challenge is to me just as well as it is to anyone else. And it is a challenge, because if we take our prayers seriously, they will lead us to action.

For this election, I offer this one final religious note and it is a prayer. May it be your prayer as well:

O God, as our nation prepares to elect new leadership, we lift our hearts in prayer. We pray for unity where there has been division, for the proclamation of truth where there has been falsehood, for the work of the common good where there has been stalemate and obstruction. As we vote, we pray that every voice may be heard, and that those of us who can make our voice heard would remember those who have been silenced at this important moment. 

O God, we pray for leadership that will take seriously the foundational ideals of our country. We pray for leadership that takes seriously the goals of peace, the inherit worth of every individual, and the work of the common good. We pray they know that this country has worked for the good and ill of humankind, and we pray they will constantly work for the good.

And now, God, we pray for those values which guide us eternally, that we may endure the pursuit of them no matter the outcome of our election.

We pray for the healing and wholeness of creation.We pray to learn our place in the family of all things.

We pray for the poor who have found their way onto neither party platform. We pray good things for them: food for the hungry, company for the prisoner, welcome for the stranger.

We pray for peace: peace in our lives, peace in the world. We pray that we stand closer and closer to the day when we will choose to study war no more, and we will beat weapons into gardening tools.

We pray for the rights of those who are kept out, who are oppressed and marginalized. We pray for the dawning of a time when All really means All, when our common humanity would be marked by inclusion and radical welcome, rather than division and forceful exclusion.

And God, we pray as we so often do – “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” May this be true now and may we work alongside of You to make it so.

O God, we pray for the healing of our nation. Amen.

“Lord’s Prayer” from Church of the Pater Noster. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.