How does your faith influence your political views?
Central Florida Public Media and StoryCorps are bringing together strangers with differing political views for One Small Step conversations.
Seminole County pastor Andy Searles said he’s frustrated by the “unnecessary division” in our country. He said the attempted assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump, and former President Joe Biden withdrawing from the race, were pivotal moments for him.
“Both of those instances told me something's broken here,” Searles said.
Searles sat down for a conversation with Amelia Blanton, who works at the theme parks.
“I've noticed that civility and debating in politics seems like it's kind of gone out the window,” Blanton said. “People seem increasingly hostile and divisive, and so I think it'd be good to kind of learn, take a step back and be like, hey, we have more in common than we have different.”
Meet Andy Searles
Andy Searles was born and raised in the United Kingdom, growing up in Colchester.
After graduation, he had the chance to come to the U.S. for a year. He said he wrestled with the decision.
“Do I want to be a person who rolls the dice, takes some risks and adventures a little bit?” Searles said. “And I realized that when I was older, I didn't want to have any regrets.”
Searles has been in the U.S. for more than 25 years, and has a wife and two children. And he’s the pastor at Church Together in Casselberry.
Searles is an independent, but says to some progressive people, he comes across as conservative, and to some conservative people, he comes across as liberal.
One thing that troubles him: As a pastor of an evangelical church, people often have an idea what that means. But, he said, the word means “good news.”
“I think that there are parts of our society and politics and media that have kind of kidnapped the word evangelical and turned it from a posture of care into a political tool,” Searles said. “So I kind of have a significant PR problem, because it kind of feels like someone's stolen my word.”
Meet Amelia Blanton
Amelia Blanton moved from Atlanta to the greater Orlando area about nine years ago.
She’s a cat lover - her cat’s name is Cleopatra Nacho. Blanton is also an artist and singer, and has a number of “geeky” interests, like video games and Japanese animation.
She’s also big into cosplay - and the pirate community, including the Atlanta Pirates & Wenches Guild and the Brethren of the Space Coast.
“I got my mom into pirating, so we just go places and dress up like pirates,” Blanton said. “We've been to like children's hospitals, we've been to parades, all kind of things.”
Growing up, she said her grandfather was a big influence on her life, and encouraged her to be true to herself.
“He said, ‘don't lose your fire,’” Blanton said. “My parents had divorced, my dad remarried, and she and I didn't always see eye to eye. So sometimes I would kind of water myself down because I wanted people to like me. And he's like, don't, don't water yourself down. If you have something to say, he's like, say it.”
Blanton describes herself as progressive, and maybe a little libertarian.
Blanton said growing up, one thing that influenced her politics was knowing people who came out as gay or trans to their parents and were rejected. And she knows people who have stopped talking to family members over politics.
“I don't think that should ever be a thing to break ties with someone you're close to,” Blanton said.
The takeaway
Blanton said when she talks to people, she identifies herself as a progressive Christian.
She said she tries to distance herself from the stereotypes.
“People automatically assume, Oh, you're very conservative, you're homophobic and you're very bigoted,” Blanton said. “If you think that's what Christianity is, you've kind of missed the point.”
That means she looks for candidates who are open and accepting. She also shuns the idea of Christian nationalism.
“That's not really the kind of Christianity I want to align with,” Blanton said.
Searles agreed. He said Christians by nature follow a separate code.
He said Christian nationalism is an oxymoron.
“The whole Christian nationalism thing, I don't understand it, because I don't know if it's particularly Christian, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't help our nation either,” Searles said. “So I'm just confused by it and perpetually finding myself defending myself against those accusations.”
