As a pastor’s kid, I grew up reading the Bible. I want to tell you it’s because I was so holy. The truth is that when you were in church, as much as I was, it’s easy to get bored with all the grown-up religious talk. If you’re feeling sorry for my childhood self, however, I should tell you, it wasn’t a bad way to keep yourself entertained. The Bible’s angels, demons, armies, battles, and even a kid beating a giant with a slingshot.
I will admit, though, that some things were confusing, and one thing that just made no sense was how much the Bible talked about idolatry and how often people seemed to worship things made of stone or metal. How could anybody be silly enough to think that something made by human hands was a God?
A few years later, however, I saw a movie that helped me see things differently. The Gods Must Be Crazy is the story of an African tribe that receives a “gift” from the Gods which just happens to be a Coke bottle thrown out the window of a small airplane. The Tribe responds hilariously, making far too much of the gift, but when you think that’s the gist of the story, everything shifts. Xi (a leader of the tribe) decides that he must take the gift back to the Gods to restore the peace of his tribe. When he does, he encounters bizarre behaviors on the part of those he assumes are the Gods’ representatives. There’s a scientist who, despite his education, is utterly incapable of responding to real-world challenges. There’s a group of Marxist guerillas who believe they represent “the people” but end up threatening the lives of a teacher and a group of children. Pay close attention, and you quickly realize that the film finds just as much absurdity in the metanarratives of our modern world (i.e., that science has all the answers and that political ideology justifies inhumane behavior) as it does in the beliefs and behaviors of this pre-industrial African tribe. Idolatry, it turns out, is alive and well in the modern world.
There’s a lot of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth in American political life right now. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with their choices: an 81-year-old career politician and a 77-year-old businessman facing felony charges in four separate criminal indictments. Even the guy who’s third in the polls is a conspiracy theorist who recently spoke at length about his struggle with brain worms. I get why this slate of candidates makes so many people unhappy, but I’ve started wondering if there’s a hidden silver lining.
Is it possible that the weaknesses of our current slate of political candidates is a tool that God is using to give us some perspective? I am not claiming moral equivalence between them here or advocating for a kind of political nihilism where all is absurd and nothing truly matters. What I am advocating for, however, is a realistic and theologically informed awareness of the limitations of political power and the people who wield it.
More importantly, perhaps (given our identity not as a school of theology but as an organization focused on church health), I am advocating for cultivating this mindset within your congregation. There are issues we need to discuss as followers of Jesus about matters of ethics and human flourishing, but so many people are either angry or afraid that having those kinds of conversations seems crazy. Where can we even begin?
I can’t promise that it will be easy, but here are a few concrete suggestions for helping the people of your congregation avoid giving too much power to politics and politics.
1. Help the people of your congregation examine the time they spend following political coverage versus the time they spend on worship, faith development, and loving their neighbors.
According to recent surveys, one-third of Americans consume two hours of political news daily! Think about that. There’s nothing wrong with staying informed, but the incentives for bias embracing forms of political news aren’t to provide us with a breadth of information, they are to keep us watching and unfortunately anger and fear get good TV ratings. However, helping people examine their viewing habits can give them a relative comparison that will get their attention. What if you took a Sunday and invited everyone to log the time they give to politics versus the time they give to worship, prayer, and studying scripture? You won’t change everyone’s behavior, but you might be surprised how many light bulbs will go on and how many conversations you’ll spark among your people.
2. Ask people to describe what happens to them and by them as a result of their focus on politics.
The same surveys about how much political coverage people consume also indicate that only a tiny percentage of the American public moves beyond listening to the news into constructive responses. Sixty-two percent of Americans report higher levels of anger or frustration after watching political coverage, but approximately two percent report any engagement toward constructive change. People get mad about global warming, but they don’t plant trees. People get angry about crime but don’t volunteer for neighborhood watch programs. They get angry. Political scientists call this political hobbyism. Political hobbyists follow politics as a warped form of entertainment and as an expression of self-identity. Furthermore, political hobbyists tend to receive and respond to politics as isolated individuals. If politics becomes an end in and of itself (rather than ways for communities to practice collective decision-making) and if our primary engagement with politics is as individual viewers, then it’s very easy for anger, frustration, and the denial of differing perspectives to be normalized.
3. Invite people to hold hands and work to overcome political idolatry together.
I know what you’re thinking. Wagging your finger at the people going off the deep end politically and telling them that they are engaging in idolatry will probably make people even angrier than they already are. This is why I am convinced that the solution isn’t primarily intended for individuals but for your entire congregation. Substantive changes in human behavior are always difficult, especially if left up to the will and discipline of a solitary individual. What does tend to work, however, are communities of transformation. Ask any alcoholic who has tried to quit drinking on their own, and they’ll tell you how hard it is, but ask the people who are part of a group committed to helping each other quit, and you’ll hear a different story. What if your first step in helping your congregation overcome political polarization was asking how many people agree it’s a problem? That’s one of the great ironies of the political moment, on issue after issue Americans are increasingly divided over issues such as guns, immigration, abortion, etc. The one issue, however, where Americans are almost completely united regardless of where they land on the political spectrum is the problems associated with political polarization. We might not know how to solve it, but we all agree it’s a problem.
This is one way the Church could contribute significantly to American politics by finding ways to talk about our various political differences while avoiding the temptation of idolizing our preferred political parties and politicians or demonizing those with whom we disagree. Scripture is not as clear as I’d like it to be on some political issues, but it is crystal clear in our commandment to love our neighbors, even those with whom we disagree. What if you asked the people in your congregation to pray together about all the political toxicity of this present moment with some real intentionality, pairing up people with differing political perspectives to ask God together for humility, patience, and the strength to love those with whom we disagree? That might sound like wishful thinking but social scientists indicate that one of the single most effective tools for overcoming polarization is giving people the opportunity to focus on a shared goal with people of differing political convictions. Humility and empathy are the natural byproducts of such encounters, and as humility and empathy flourish, political toxicity dissipates.
Your congregation can respond healthily to the rising levels of political anger. It won’t be easy, but a good place to start is by bringing people together to ask good, hard questions and practice self-examination. Together, we can learn how we’ve let something important (politics) become something ultimate. Politics matters but we have to remember, it’s fashioned by human hands.
VISIT the R12 website for more on overcoming political polarization in your church.
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