Since the 1960s, when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a wide majority of black Americans have been passionate supporters of the Democratic Party. Today that support is something like blind loyalty, and with the presidency of Barack Obama, black voters have made it known that not only is the black vote a Democratic vote but also one based on color lines.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama won 95 percent of the black vote and was re-elected four years later with 93 percent. In 2012 black voters turned out at higher rates than white voters for the first time on record. Now that President Obama is leaving presidential office, Republicans and Democrats alike are starting to wonder what will be the fate of that black vote in 2016.

Some assume that blacks will continue to reflexively vote Democratic. Others are predicting that, given how badly poor blacks are fairing in the Obama-led economy, that many black voters will simply stay home in 2016, dropping out of the process. But I want to submit that this is an opportunity for blacks, specifically those of Christian faith, to affect real change for the better by choosing to vote not simply and blindly on party lines and skin color, but on conviction and principles.

As a black teen approaching voting age, I remember that it was an unspoken assumption that blacks registered Democrat and voted as such. No mention of principles or ethics or critical thinking. Just check that box and get your sticker. A study of 3,300 black voters by the Political Research Quarterly confirms that my experience growing up was typical. The study found that “partisanship exerts an enormous influence” and black voters “use partisanship as a simplifying heuristic for political decision making.”

But for me that robotic process became impossible as I matured and became aware of my Constitutional Rights and Christian beliefs. The political party that I was told in my youth represented me as a black woman had been undermining the values and beliefs I stood for. The decision was clear: It was time to vote according to the principles and convictions of my faith. It was time to end my shallow relationship with the Democratic Party.

It seems the black Democratic vote is tied to its concerns about race relations and civil rights, but the Republican Party almost certainly has a track record on the matter far stronger than that of the Democracts. The Republican Party, which came into existence in 1854, is the party that ended slavery. By 1860 the majority of southern slave states were threatening secession if a Republican won the presidency. Well, their threats were turned into promises as Abraham Lincoln — a Republican — became president. Within a few months, the Civil War had begun. After Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and the northern states won the war, a Republican-dominated Congress started the reconstruction policies within the South, ending Jim Crow segregation laws and signing into law the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments that granted equal rights to all Southern citizens, including those of African descent.

Fast forward almost a century to the 1960s. The next landmark Civil Rights issue, though signed by Democrat President Johnson, saw greater support from Republicans. The GOP strongly favored the 1964 Civil Rights Act, with 80 percent in the House and Senate voting for the bill compared with less than 70 percent of Democrats doing so.

Once again race relations and civil rights are a prominent concern among African Americans. Without a doubt civil rights are important and should be championed and not taken for granted. However, the Christian covenant with God through Jesus Christ carries more weight than skin color. All issues must be considered, and a swift and robotic check for Democrat on a ballot is not the solution to the problems our nation faces. Otherwise, the recent rise in racial tension would not be taking place under a Democratic president who is black. If there is truly going to be justice, it needs to be for all.

The U.S. Supreme Court just redefined marriage and mandated same-sex ‘marriage’ in all 50 states. This couldn’t have happened without radical Supreme Court appointments by Democratic presidents. Next we have Planned Parenthood’s disgusting justification for illegally selling aborted baby body parts. You’d think the Democratic Party would at least recoil from this and agree to stop using our tax dollars to fund this horrible organization, founded by a racist, Margaret Sanger, who made it one of her stated goals to thin out the black population through Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in black neighborhoods. But, no, our Democratic political leaders in Washington continue to back Planned Parenthood to the hilt.

It is time for black voters to stop viewing their vote through a partisan lens and a color lens and start looking at candidates through the lens of moral conviction and character.

One of the most notable figures of the Civil Rights movement was Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — a Christian preacher. He declared from our nation’s capital that he had a dream in which people “would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr. King was calling for all people to push past skin color and reflexive partisanship and examine character.

He asked for the powers that be to “let freedom ring.” Today, freedom is under attack — freedom to exercise religion and freedom of speech, the freedom to draw one’s first breath instead of being dismembered in the womb, sometimes even in the third trimester, and sold to the highest bidder for body parts. Many blacks who strongly disagree with this culture of death nevertheless head to the polls every two years and vote for this culture of death.

At the same time, those who are taking a stand against the current cultural tide of same-sex ‘marriage’ are losing their jobs and their businesses. Others are being pulled into lawsuits and told by government officials to not even talk about their beliefs. And this attack on freedom is coming almost exclusively from Democratic politicians and Democratic judicial appointees.

Dr. King also said these words in his “I Have a Dream” speech, words paraphrased from Isaiah 40:4-5:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope.

This should be our hope, not only for civil rights but also for the moral landscape of America — that moral convictions and character would prevail above skin color, and that everyone’s fundamental rights will be protected under the Constitution, black, brown and white, born and unborn. We need to pray that our Christian faith is not consumed by the cultural tide, and that the black vote will not be a simplistic, automatic partisan vote, will not be the captive of any party, but will be one based on Christian principles and the character of the politicians on the ballot — red or blue, black or white.