To say that Americans are deeply divided is an understatement. As this helpful survey shows, our nation is split between two opposing worldviews. Do we inhabit a world filled with wonder and opportunity for growth and connection, as one side of this division believes? Or are we facing a cultural onslaught of historic threats that are largely without precedent in history? The word worldview itself is highly revealing. This is not simply a matter of competing ideas. Rather, these are conflicting conceptions of reality itself.
Making matters worse is the fact that both views have elements of truth in them. Christians recognize that this is God’s good world, filled with the creative exuberance of His mighty hand. But Christians also recognize that this world is in a fallen state, that the scourge of human sinfulness is a source of constant harm and havoc, and that it will one day reach a point of escalation.
While charting the precise origins of our deep cultural division is beyond the scope of this article, we can note that years of culture warring on these critical questions has led to a politics of contempt, with both sides engaging in increasingly hostile tactics. For those interested, the sociologist James Davison Hunter’s latest book, Democracy and Solidarity, offers a rich history of how we arrived at this moment.
According to Hunter, the most basic questions with which every culture must contend are: What is the nature of reality? How should we live? What is a person? Why are we here? Even a cursory glance at each of these questions reveals that we have no national agreement on any of them. When it comes to the nature of reality, we can’t even agree on what constitutes a scientific fact or a political victory. The question of how we ought to love involves some of our fiercest moral debates. Likewise, the question of what it means to be human, with a growing number of people insisting on the radical plasticity of human identity (i.e., you can be whatever you want to be). The question of the ultimate purpose of human life is subject to similar conflict. While we may rattle off vague statements about “love” and “freedom,” there’s no agreement on what these terms mean.
Hunter opts to use the word solidarity rather than consensus because it speaks to the fundamental bonds that unite us. A phrase like “Aren’t we all human after all?” would be a basic expression of solidarity. Imagine a natural disaster disrupting a tense game between Alabama and Auburn. Ideally speaking, the sports rivalry would be set aside in order to prioritize the safety of everyone at the game. This would be another basic expression of solidarity—a common bond of humanity that exceeds our superficial differences. Increasingly, however, such solidarity is being undermined. In short, we’re having a harder time seeing past our differences and locating a common source of humanity. This is sobering, of course, but it’s also a powerful opportunity for Christian men and women who affirm that every person is made in the image of God.
In the wake of such deep division, serious weariness is setting in, and there’s a growing temptation to engage in the hostility surrounding us. In practical terms, this means that many of us are giving up on having difficult conversations. Many of us are abandoning civil disagreement as a waste of time. Stated in Biblical terms, many of us are starting to believe that loving our neighbor is counterproductive. On this score, it’s disheartening to see the number of relationships that have perished because of our cultural divisions. How many of us are no longer on speaking terms with former friends and family members because of a squabble that began as a conversation on politics? Of course, these days, political conversations are never simply about politics. As we stated above, we are fiercely divided on the most basic questions of human life: What is the nature of reality? How should we live? What is a person? Why are we here?
How can we love our neighbor in such a time as this? In Matthew 22:34-40, we are challenged by Jesus’s searing words:
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
The sequence here is crucial. It’s only on the basis of Christ’s unconditional love for us that we are then liberated to love others as ourselves. “We love because he first loved us. (I John 4:19)” If we want to love those who actively hold to positions and lifestyles that we deem to be destructive, we must first love God with all that we are. Once we worship the Lord in spirit and truth, we begin to get back in touch with reality. One of the basic motivations for engaging in true worship is not to chase some emotional high but rather to see things as they are. Recall James 3:9,
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in his likeness.”
Such a recognition depends upon an accurate perception of reality. One clear proof that we’re out of touch with reality is our habit of denigrating people made in God’s image, no matter how harmful or offensive we believe them to be.
How do we love our neighbor(s) in a time of deep cultural division? We must begin by loving our Lord with all that we are.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Simon Lehmann
Kenneth Boa equips people to love well (being), learn well (knowing), and live well (doing). He is a writer, teacher, speaker, and mentor and is the President of Reflections Ministries, The Museum of Created Beauty, and Trinity House Publishers.
Publications by Dr. Boa include Conformed to His Image, Handbook to Prayer, Handbook to Leadership, Faith Has Its Reasons, Rewriting Your Broken Story, Life in the Presence of God, Leverage, and Recalibrate Your Life.
Dr. Boa holds a B.S. from Case Institute of Technology, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. from New York University, and a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in England.