Whiners, bullies and faith
Ijust finished watching the movie “How the West Was Won” for at least the fourth time. I promptly began the DVD miniseries of “James Michener’s Centennial” for the fourth watching. I am fascinated and awed by the settling of the American West and by the people who did so. From the comforts of settled 21st century Rome, it is almost unimaginable how people walked across the Great Plains and crossed the Rockies in a wagon pulled by oxen or mules. They were a courageous, tough and self-reliant bunch!
Though that part of the American identity that comes from the Western settlement is greatly romanticized, it still offers models of how one should deal with challenging situations. Few settlers started West if they were not willing to take risks and endure hardship. They had best be prepared to solve their own problems because life was not easy.
If I am correct in understanding traditionalists in the culture wars, a major concern they express is that too many people prefer to whine about their circumstances rather than do something about those circumstances. Perhaps there is a warning to be heard. Whiners are irritating and they invite disdain. Whiners are not responsible for their problems or their decisions. They want someone else to solve their problems and make their lives easier.
Typically enough in these days of divisiveness, what is considered a whine is strongly influenced by one’s political leanings. The reality is that both sides have their championship whines. It seems that conservatives are especially tuned to issues around social ills about poverty and discrimination and perceived disrespect for authority. They really expect strong, individual self-discipline and self-reliance. Don’t rock the boat; don’t blame someone else for your bad decisions; don’t look to the government to regulate and equalize. From the religious perspective, conservative Christians fear the abandonment of traditional personal morality and beliefs while seeking to be inclusive and relevant.
From the progressive side, the perceived whiners are more likely to be seen as defensive, hypocritical and insensitive to the destructiveness of social injustices. They see that, too often, the strong take increasing advantage of the weak; the rich exploit the poor; the environment is devastated for profit; anyone “not like us” is a threat to be feared. From the religious perspective, progressive Christians are dismayed by the wide-spread evangelical abandonment of concerns about personal morality and integrity. Instead they see the evangelicals as uncritically embracing a limited number of political issues that are, at best, remotely related to the teachings of New Testament Christianity.
Into the mix has come an increasing role of the bully. Ironically, bullies become perhaps the biggest whiners of all when confronted with their behavior. Politicians and lobbyists confronted with facts they wish to avoid claim fake news. Self-righteous preachers claim they are only defending true religion. Bigots caught in the act want to claim that their rights of free speech are being denied. Note that Richard Spencer, an infamous white supremacist who supports strong borders, recently claimed discrimination when he was denied entry into Europe.
Obviously, both sides consider themselves right, righteous and misunderstood. Each side is hairtrigger angry by the sense of being bullied by the other. As for me, I have especially struggled with trying to decide exactly what I want to say with this column. I struggle with my own prejudices, anger and frequent discouragement about the very things of which I constantly muse and periodically write. I am convinced, however, that we must find ways to come together in respect for both those things we hold in common and those on which we disagree. Bi-partisan is not an ugly word.
We have just celebrated Independence Day and all the heroes and everyday people who came before us to create a nation that is truly unique in world history. We have a solid foundation of common beliefs and experiences to claim, but our nation is also imperfect in reaching its highest ideals, just as are our public institutions, our churches and each of us individually. Both those who deny the ideals and those who deny the shortfall from the ideals do us injustice and should not be followed. The whiners, the bullies, the single-minded partisans want all-or-nothing, black or white, win or lose. They will keep us in hostile gridlock while complex issues like immigration, climate change, abortion and individual rights simply fester and worsen our divisions. The partisans would lead us to destruction of the very ideals they claim to uphold.
I find myself reverting more than I ever expected to thinking as a pastor, raised very conservative Baptist, still active in a Baptist church but horrified about the public face of evangelical Christianity. I have never denied that I lean slightly left in the theological and political spectrum, but that leaning is only obvious in a very conservative environment. I stand by my claim that it is laughable to label a child of the 1960s who still regularly participates in a Baptist church and has been monogamously married for 45 years as a liberal. What I experience from the faith I embrace is a hope that, at this point, defies much of what I experience. That hope is that in seeking to follow and promote the teachings of the New Testament as a whole I can be part of a return to a time when Christians were known by their love of God and love of neighbor.
Talk to me.