| Feature Article – April 2006 |
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There is a basic human instinct for distinguishing between “Them” and “Us.”
This instinct is probably rooted in Nature itself – not just human nature, but all living beings.
At the cellular level, it is important for your body to tell the difference between cells that belong to you and cells that are invading you. Your body could not fight off infection if you could not make that distinction. A species could not survive if you could not tell the difference between your own kind and another – which kind of animal to mate with, and which kind of animal to eat, for example. (For female spiders, this is a question of timing!) Human organizations need to know who their members are, in order to make decisions.
However, sometimes this ability to distinguish is distorted. In certain kinds of disease, the immune system starts to attack its own cells. In human systems, the ability to discriminate between different groups can generate discrimination against minority groups.
A strong sense of Us is the basis of community and cooperation – but a strong sense of Them is the basis of hostility and conflict. Yet recognizing Them and Us are part of the same ability.
When this ability is projected onto the social stage, it can be both a blessing and a curse. A strong sense of Us gives us that sense of solidarity that leads to an outpouring of help to those in need, as we have seen in recent world disasters. The ability to cooperate is necessary for every form of social organization, whether it is the federal government or your local parish.
However, the flip side of that strong bond is strong hostility. We see devastating social strife between warring factions, between Catholic and Protestant in Ireland, Serb and Croat in Europe, Hutu and Tsutsi in Africa, Sunni and Shiite in Iraq.
These examples illustrate the entanglement of religion in this issue. The root meaning of “religio” is to bond together, to connect people, to include people in Us. But every inclusion has a shadow, the exclusion of Them. So a strong sense of belonging can create a strong sense of rejection towards those who do not belong.
Great civilizations have overcome the tribalism that drives people into separate camps. Great religions have appealed to the universal human community. The Golden Rule, to treat the Other as you would want your Self to be treated, is characteristic of all the great spiritual traditions of humanity.
Yet so often intense religious identity is subverted into hostility, and religion is misused as a badge of difference by opposing camps and factions. Sadly, this is true of Christians all too often. You would think that if the Gospel had really touched our hearts, we of all people would be most welcoming to those who are different from us.
Jesus broke down the barriers of prejudice in his own society – between rich and poor, between untouchable lepers and self-sufficient scribes, between women and men, between Jew and Samaritan. He repeated the Old Testament command to love our neighbour as ourself, but he carried that even further, commanding us to love even our enemies, and to love one another with the self-giving love which he showed us on the Cross.
How is it possible for people who follow Jesus to be uncharitable towards their opponents?
St. Paul faithfully picked up this teaching of Jesus. He saw the miraculous overcoming of alienation between Jews and Gentiles as the direct fruit and evidence of the Cross and Resurrection.
If we would witness in our own day to the truth that we have encountered in Christ, we need to express his radical inclusiveness in the conflicts of our own age. We need to avoid demonizing those who are different from us. We Christians have a bad habit of arguing with one another. The miracle of the twentieth century is how much we have been able to reconcile ourselves, not only with those of other denominations, but those of other faiths.
This is not just a task for academics and theologians – it is a challenge for all of us. I was recently visiting a retired taxi-cab driver and manager, who regaled me with stories of how he had broken down the walls of prejudice in his business. In every workplace in this multicultural society, we have the opportunity to build bridges to those who are different from ourselves.
This does not mean wiping out the differences, but reaching beyond them. You cannot have a dialogue if you have total agreement. Dialogue requires difference. We have to learn not to be threatened by difference, so we can listen to the Other, and learn from Them.
FD Maurice, a significant Anglican theologian from the 1830’s, taught that every religion or philosophy has at its core some central belief, a truth which has something to contribute to the common good. But in the process of defending our truth, we negate the truth of others. There is a greater Truth, glimpsed partially in our separate little truths, that we can only approach through dialogue with one another.
Loving one another, and respecting one another, as Jesus taught us, is the only way to open ourselves to that greater truth. In doing so, we come to understand better our own truth.