They did it! (On Blame)

Last updated on: January 24, 2017 at 1:11 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

They did it! (On Blame) 2017-01-24T13:11:17-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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An important job for thinkers is to look for the root cause of cultural problems. If only we could find why we had this problem, got to the very bottom of the cultural weed, then we could not only pull it out, but make sure it did not return.

That can be good, but it always is fertile ground for demagoguery. A great temptation is to see someone, especially someone who disagrees with us, as the root cause for all our problems.

This is dangerous, because then one is tempted to treat this group the way one treats a weed.

One thing I have learned: big cultural problems have many causes. For example, many Americans do not have access to good quality health care and overall our health care is too expensive? Why?

If you can answer that question with a three minute You-Tube, then you have blown it.

Christians face this temptation and we must learn to resist it. Many of us see American cultural rot being exposed lately, so it is tempting to look for easy enemies and attack them. If there is some truth to the analysis, complex problems have many causes, then the analysis will be persuasive. You can start an entire movement around such labeling, ministries are formed, money is raised.

A shallow sort of academic discovers a movement (“the Austrian school!” the “revivalism”), learns about that movement, and then makes it very effective and the cause of almost all our woes. At the start of this century, Christians went after postmodernism as the cause of our problems.

I was dubious then and more dubious now.

The problem doesn’t go away and in fact may get worse. Why? We are (at best) attacking a root cause and at worst demonizing a group of people that may be as much victims as are we. For example, the rise of the religiously unaffiliated, assuming it is still a “thing” (data is mixed), has gotten a great deal of attention. Since generalizations about the religious decisions of millions of individuals are going to always be dodgy, quick and facile conclusions will be worse.

Conservatives might be too quick to blame theological liberalism.

Liberals attack the “religious right.”

One good way of seeing how empty such analysis can be is to ask to define terms. What is “theological liberalism?” What is the “religious right?” Try this out out on a Jerry Falwell Jr. on the right or a Franky Schaeffer on the left and one generally finds a mess. Often it is: people I don’t like doing things that I disapprove of who can now be hit with this particular stick.

The categories become so broad that “religious right” or “theological liberalism” loses any meaning beyond “the Christians I don’t like.” Now it seems probable to me that confusion of Americanism with Christianity and a loss of theological convictions might both be causes of the rise of the nones. Maybe.

Research continues.

Until we can be sure, please note that confusing Americanism with Christianity is bad even if it has not led to the rise of the non-religious and that theological apostasy is no better than any other betrayal!

Meanwhile, lumping large groups of people together with ill defined categories means missing out on valuable ideas and possible allies. Any idea that conveniently dispenses with all our foes as the source of our woe should be suspect! It is too easy to kid ourselves.

People, even more than events, are complicated. They hardly ever fit into a simple category. My friends who voted for Trump have all kinds of reasons for doing so. Those of us who could not also have many reasons.

We must be careful. Hatred can be a hidden motive that few of us wish to find!

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