Tribalism and Truth

We have been Balkanizing the U.S. for quite some time. We truly want to hang out only with “our folks” no matter the place on the political spectrum. I miss the days before social media. Truly.

If I lived in Kansas or Colorado or Minnesota, I could hang out with people and learn from folks and have some discussion along the way and even when we hit points of disagreement, we could probably walk through the differences as we argued and tried to persuade and, hopefully, listened to each other.

The age of social media has ripped that away. We are into tribalism, but it’s more. It’s becoming vicious tribalism.

It’s Ellen DeGeneres (and even invoking that name now has a loaded connotation) daring to say she likes George Bush. She was derided years ago when a picture of her and the former president taking a selfie together and… horrors… smiling. She even tried to explain it on her show. But in her tribe? Liking George Bush was intolerable.

It’s a “conservative” being asked, “Is Joe Biden a good person?” and they just freeze.

We just can’t think of “other” people as even, possibly, just being good people.

In American Christianity, we live in a tribalism that is foolish and dangerous. As Russell Moore explains it in his book, Losing Our Religion, there are two messages that somehow go together in the new conservative Christian tribalism that were seen on January 6, 2021.

It was a gallows that was raised on the premises of the U.S. Capital along with the chants of “Hang Mike Pence” and then also seen all over the Capital grounds were signs that said, “JESUS SAVES.”

A gallows and a “Jesus Saves” sign coexisting is a sign that American Christianity is truly in crisis.

When pastors have to carefully parse their words on Sunday in regards to current cultural waves that can engulf their congregants… it’s a sign of crisis.

Whisper campaigns that brand conservative pastors as… horror… moderate. Or moderate pastors as… wait for it… Marxists.

Friends, these things ought not to be.

I’ve been shunned NOT because, in my circles, I’ve given up on being Pentecostal (meaning: speaking in tongues) or because I don’t believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (and I DO believe in the deity of Jesus Christ). No. I got shut out because I said “Never Trump.” Oh! The HERESY!

We have been through the heated time of pastors being declared “WOKE” which is the equivalent of a modern day scarlet letter in some circles.

I have a friend who lost his ministry’s financial support from a church because they said to him, “We know how you voted in the last election.”

We’re still in an environment (in the conservative American Church) where we’re too much into brutal authoritarianism (think, Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church) and less into understanding the truth of the Kingdom.

The American Church isn’t under attack. We just want it to be under attack. We need an enemy, for some reason.

The problem with that is this: when we think we are under attack, we’ll look for ANY type of “strong” savior.

This is the danger of tribalism. We have to gin up enemies.

LIVE as people of the Kingdom of God. Some things Russell Moore suggests in his book:

Be Vigilant. Be aware of the TRUTH of the Kingdom and cling to it. We are NOT “under attack” by the “woke” forces being talked about.

Speak the Truth. Always. Even when it gets you frozen out. But let the inner truth of the Kingdom flow out in the abundance of the words you speak.

Avoid Foolish Controversies. We all have family members and church folk close to us who traffic in disinformation or conspiracy theories. I remember my first shocking encounter years ago when a very good friend truly believed that Barack Obama was NOT an American citizen. It’s worse than that now.

Here is the difficulty: we want to pull away from folks buried deep in disinformation. It’s an easy thing to do in our age of tribalism. It is a challenge for me.

It’s happened more times than I can count where some friend will be with me and they might start into the latest disinformation they’ve heard… and I’ve had to gently redirect the conversation. And, on occasion, just had to say, “Look, this needs to stop right now. We’re really not going to be able to hash this out here, so let’s enjoy the event we’re at and focus on being present.”

Inhabit the Bible. Don’t just memorize parts of it and use it as your ideological hammer. The Scriptures aren’t there for you to prove your point on socialism or capitalism or any other “ism” you might like to use as a hammer.

Inhabit the Bible by immersing yourself in the story. It’s not MY story… it is HIS story. He is doing something far bigger than my ideology, and I get to join it. I am not going to engage the Bible so I find proof texts to hammer people in my next discussion with them. I am going to immerse myself in the story so I can more clearly see the world around me.

That will be a world that is not full of enemies and political games and conspiracy theories. It will not be a world where I fear Marxists disguised as Democrats or fascist, flesh-eating demagogues disguised as Republicans.

I will not fear immigrants or other groups we slap labels on to make sure we avoid them. That is not the Kingdom of God. And if I am immersed in the Bible, I will find less fear and more love.

It truly IS increasingly difficult to find that space. I’ve gone through a time period where I’ve been too careful of how I curate that space. I’ve sometimes held back in conversation, or in how I approach it in social media.

But I’ve decided to be far less concerned about how it “looks” and just simply be present with all kinds of people again. To the far right and to the far left, I will still seek out friends. I will still live in a way that hopefully demonstrates a life immersed in the Kingdom of God. I will find a way to love. All PEOPLE.