Ken Burns' remarkable film series "The Civil War" has been rebroadcast recently on PBS. Sally and I have made it a point to watch it again and discuss it. We have it on DVR. Last night we viewed episode 5 which tells of a Confederate officer who ordered that a Union gun boat in Galveston harbor be fired upon. When he later boarded the now disabled ship, the officer discovered that his own son lay dead on the deck of the boat in a Union uniform. It is a poignant example of what can happen to a people when ideas become so contentious that sides are formed and arms are taken up. Family members and neighbors end up killing each other.
There are many historical examples of nations and communities turning upon each other with unimaginable violence. Religious views, tribal identities, politics, and ethnicity are some of the most common causes. The slippery slope toward carnage begins when, convinced of the superiority of their particular group, public influencers employ the strategy of deligitimizing the other people, not just their opinions. It is a tactic that seeks to convince one's group that those people who think, act or look that other way are inherently deficient and malevolent. It is an intentional, cynical effort on the part of some to instill a deep, irrational fear of the "other" in one's own group.
Left unchecked it inevitably leads to scapegoating, ethnic cleansing, heresy trials and societal collapse. I have had conversations with friends recently that have made me realize how far down this road we have already gone. One veteran of the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's observed with genuine alarm that racist rhetoric is gaining a foothold in mainstream dialogue once again. You know it is a fact that Blacks and Hispanics are on the receiving end of some pretty disgusting commentary in some circles today. So also is the old McCarthy era "un-American" paranoia making a comeback. When someone says, "We must take our country back," we should ask some probing questions. Do they mean put a Republican back in the White House? Or do they mean return to a 1950's status quo when whites dominated everything and minorities were in their place in the social pecking order? When someone says something is "not scriptural," do they mean it doesn't agree with their understanding of the Bible? Or, do they mean that those who share that view are under the influence of Satan?
On the religious front, Rob Bell published a book with the title "Love Wins" (Harper One) wherein he puts forth the idea that God's love is greater than some of our old theologies have been willing to consider. Upon hearing that Sally and I like the book, a friend who has not read the book in essence declared Bell was a greedy trouble maker who was contributing to a "great end times deception" that would lead to the takeover of world government by the anti-Christ. Somehow he "knows" this even though he has never met Rob Bell or read his book.
Jesus challenged us to love both neighbor and enemy. Name calling, stigmatizing and cultivating ill will against those with whom I have differences is not the way to anything good. On the contrary, it becomes fertile soil for the germination of horrific evil. We better stop it before it is too late.
