Tribes – the figurative kind – can turn bad. They tend to define their identity by contrasting themselves with “the other,” those other tribes whose values contradict their own, whether such claims are true or not – since the real differences may simply be linguistic or cultural, or may differ only by degree or by points of emphasis or application.
For example, most Americans support the first amendment. We celebrate our freedoms of speech, the press, religion, assembly, and the right of redress to the government. Then again, few of us consider those freedoms to be boundless – shouting “fire” in movie theatres, publishing child porn, preaching treason, building Nazi centers, and suing the sitting president all fail the smell test.
Here’s the rub. When it is “they” who push the limits of such freedoms, “we” scream about the stench. When it is “we” who are told to self-regulate, we accuse “them” of censorship.
Soon our tribes are tossing rhetorical grenades at one another, rallying outsiders to side with us. Many do side with one or the other. Many others dismiss both of us as reactionary, provocative, and narrow.
As if last month’s tragedy in Tucson weren’t tragic enough, the immediacy with which the rhetorical grenades took flight was stunning.
The first grenades were tossed by the critics of politicians and pundits, blaming them for provoking the violence. Never mind that the critics knew nothing of the shooter’s broadcast listening habits.
Immediately the pundits and politicians themselves, whose livelihoods hinge upon their ability to persuade followers to their point of view, blurted that their words have no influence upon people’s behaviors. Call that “the oxymoron of the era.”
Time for a game change.
Time for a distinct voice to rise from the people of the Way, the followers of Jesus.
It’s time for us to do an intervention in the culture, although doing so will require us to intervene in our own affairs. As we know, judgment begins with the household of God. In this household, within this circle of friendship, belonging, and learning, we have defined ourselves over against one another. We’ve stereotyped one another’s viewpoints, have demonized one another’s motivations and “conspiritorialized” one another’s actions. No better time than the present to name that for what it is: a sin.
It’s also time for us to do in public what we regularly do among ourselves: confess our sins. One of our most practiced tribal rituals entails listening for the Holy Spirit’s conviction, acknowledging our failings, confessing them as inexcusable, apologizing and seeking forgiveness, and hearing reassuring words of pardon from our Judge-Savior and from one another. Talk about counter-cultural!
Presbyteries across the denomination are gathering in these days to vote on possible inclusion of the Belhar Confession in our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s constitutional The Book of Confessions. It calls us to confess not only what we believe but also our sins. It especially speaks to the dark sides of our tribalism, i.e., our racism, injustice, and division. Yes, it addresses our scorn of other tribes, and our divisions within our own – the body of Christ. Its judgment begins within the household of God.
One may raise particular arguments either way about adopting this particular confession. But the world is listening for voices to rise up with the courage to declare an end to tribal prejudice, racial injustice, false judgment, and community divisiveness. The world will pay attention to those courageous enough to confess their own guilt for sins past, along with determination to do right from here on out.
—JHH
