A Brief Rant About Tribalism

Last updated on: July 30, 2020 at 9:16 am by Anne Kennedy

A Brief Rant About Tribalism 2020-07-30T09:16:42-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was going to do a video this morning, but then I realized I’d have to comb my hair, which is one of those things that seems way too daunting right now. So, I’ll just shove off my real work for one more moment and draw your attention to the headline over on the main page of Patheos. The piece is called “Why Are Christians So Angry and Fearful” by Vance Morgan. He is in the middle of a book by Kristin Du Mez which explains, apparently, exactly why. Reading the book prompted him to remember a piece he had written before. Here are some money quotes:

It is well-known by now that eighty percent of white voters identifying as evangelical Christians in this country voted for Donald Trump in November of 2016; the numbers of support in this demographic have not diminished. Any chances for Trump’s reelection in November 2020 depend, at least partially, on his receiving similar support from evangelicals at the polls. Robinson’s and Gerson’s stories of how this happened are somewhat different, but share one fundamental observation: a primary motivator for the world view of many American Christians is fear. Gerson writes that these Christians have turned to Donald Trump for protection as a playground weakling might use his lunch money to pay for protection from the schoolyard bully.

And:

Christianity is not scorned or rejected because it is the Gospel of faith, hope, and love but because this Christianity of theirs, on whatever pretext, is determined to bring bad news to the poor and the stranger, and is even self-righteous about this . . . Always, but certainly in situations when great things are at stake, it behooves Christians to think and act like Christians. This would mean practicing self-restraint, curbing our speech, remembering that our adversaries are owed the respect due to the divine image . . . In the great majority of cases, a sin is injury done to another person, other people, who, we must assume, God loves at least as much as he loves us. The loving-kindness Jesus models for us is very largely a matter of feeding and healing those in need of such care.

So, as you can imagine, I am very tired of the meme that the reason we have Mr. Trump is because of the bigot evangelicals. I feel like that story has been debunked any which way. Indeed, I think like four years ago I myself reviewed two books on just that issue and explained how that explanation is sorely lacking. Maybe later I’ll go dig that up and post it here another time. One could say that fear, perhaps, motivated a lot of people to vote for Mr. Trump, but not Evangelical fear. You can’t take people’s specious “Evangelical” faith—even if they self-identify as Evangelical—and read that into all their political motivations. When you ask them why they voted for Mr. Trump and they start talking about immigration, China, and the loss of jobs, and you toddle off to write your piece at the NYTimes about how racist the “Evangelicals” are, you are not hearing what they’re saying. Moreover, if you read Mr. Morgan’s whole piece, you will see great gaping holes in his expression of what Christian faith actually is, so I am inclined to view with a jaundiced eye his scolding about how Christians should behave. His view is entirely political, to the exclusion of the actual gospel of Jesus Christ which is offensive to every age, in every time, to every political system, and probably to many so-called “Evangelicals” many of whom did vote for Mr. Trump.

Anyway, that’s not entirely what interests me. Rather, it’s the tribalism of this piece—the same tribalism that was forming and shaping up way back in 2016, and the one that is corrupting the mask/covid issues, and everything else for that matter. It is nothing more than Everyone One Who Isn’t Me Is Hitler approach to discourse, the I Refuse To See Anything Good In The Arguments Of My Enemies And Will Just Keep Calling Them Fearful And Wrong. Which, wait for it, is probably one of the reasons Mr. Trump is the president.

In the spirit of breaking down the tribal barriers, I will say one good thing about the argument of Mr. Morgan. It is true that Evangelical Christians in the 80s and into the 90s spent a lot of time on politics and secularism and not enough time on the gospel. This is undisputed. It produced that old and tired Moral Therapeutic Deism. Many people lugged their Bibles around without ever cracking them open or being given a comprehensive way to understand what is written on all those pages.

That being said, however, if Evangelicals in the 80s and 90s had spent more time on the gospel, Mr. Morgan and others would probably have hated them more, though in that case for all the right reasons instead of for the wrong ones.

Anyway, it is unhelpful to call other people fearful. Fear is a human emotion that comes into the consciousness of every single person who ever lives. I’m sure that Mr. Morgan experiences fear on occassaion. Certainly I do. There is a lot at stake in the political process, even for real Christians. But I happen to know a lot of the Christians that Mr. Morgan would probably call “fearful,” who are the ones who vote the wrong way and say the wrong thing and espouse all the wrong theological opinions and guess what…they are not afraid. And they did not vote for Mr. Trump. And they know Jesus. And if Mr. Morgan spent any time with them he would be more appalled by what they believe, not less so, and he would go away afraid, because they aren’t looking for salvation from a political process.

Have a great day!

Previous Post

July 29, 2020

Anne's Guide to the Death and Suffering Plan

Next Post

July 31, 2020 Seven Takes To A Perfect Holiday

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Joseph Paul Jacob

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »