One observation is that due to the fact that most people in this country are lazy thinkers, they remain ignorant about the topics they choose to fight about. One of the strangest phenomenons is that people spend more energy defending their borrowed beliefs than actually maturing their own through education.
If people spent more time learning and less time disrespecting the opinions of others, maybe, just maybe, our beloved American democracy would function a little better than it has been. Instead, the average citizen is relegated to dependence upon others to do their thinking for them. This dependence implies an abandonment of personal convictions. Why? Laziness. The result is opposing groups of people ganging together, wielding torches and pitch forks (figuratively speaking, of course), casting truly denigrating aspersions at each other…but for what reason?
The whole idea of a democracy is that voting takes into account an individual’s private opinions. This is a basic tenet. Yet, most citizens form their opinions through emotional ties to social groups. We call this “identity politics.” It undermines the premise of democracy.
Identity politics are political positions based on the interests and perspectives of social groups with which people identify. Identity politics includes the ways in which people's politics are shaped by aspects of their identity through loosely correlated social organizations. Examples include social organizations based on age, religion, social class or caste, culture, dialect, disability, education, ethnicity, language, nationality, sex, gender identity, generation, occupation, profession, race, political party affiliation, sexual orientation, settlement, urban and rural habitation, and veteran status.
— Wikipedia
I have to ask, “Why do identity politics even exist? Why are people so ready to abandon their own convictions in favor of adopting surrogate convictions held by some social group or organization? Is there an underlying issue worth considering?”
Before I give some Holy Scripture on this, I need to address the second half of this blog title…“identity sports fandom.”
Have you ever been watching a sporting event and things get out of hand? Maybe it’s just a little personal jab here or there, or maybe it escalates into something terrible, where friendships are damaged. The question remains on the table, “Why does this happen?” Case in point, I recently was watching a game where the team I was rooting for was entrenched in battle with the more commonly rooted for team (I live in New England, so you can draw your own conclusions - wink, wink). My team was well behind, but trying to make a comeback, and I received a text saying, “This is your moment right now!” My response was, “Not mine…but [insert name of team]’s :).”
“My team” lost at the buzzer that night, but who cares? I care more about the “identity fandom” that I had encountered. All I could think about was how engrained, and therefore natural, it was for this other person to assign my self-worth to the success of a professional sports team. In that perverse moment, it wasn’t about two teams, it had become personal (at least for the person texting me). I wonder if they would’ve texted me had “my team” been in the lead.
OK, so let me get to my point on all of this…
Identity politics, and likewise identity sports fandom, are merely symptoms. The base issue is that people aren’t confident enough to stand on their own convictions. Why? Because they have placed their self-esteem in group thinking, like a mob does when they riot. During heightened moments of conflict, instead of buckling down into their own convictions, they seek reinforcement from the group. Now, if a group happens to consist of truly like-minded, educated individuals who arrived at their own opinions prior to agreeing with others (Acts 17:11), therefore becoming active members of said group, that’s great! However, if a person identifies with and, therefore defends, that which they do not understand, they prove themselves a liability to the group, themselves, as well as to the “rules of the game.”
What are the “rules of the game,” biblically speaking? Simply put, God desires each of us to form our own convictions. I have preached this tirelessly from my pulpit over the years. I’d rather have a well-educated individual disagree with me than argue with someone who’s merely defending a religious organization for reputation’s sake alone (aka because of “identity religion”). I can respect a person who’s taken the time to read the Bible in earnest, but the “identity” phenomenon is truly grotesque.
The solution, whether we’re discussing politics, sports, and/or religion is simple. We need to encourage people to arrive at their own convictions through personal education. No one is responsible for this but the individual, themselves. This is how God has designed it, so we ought to respect, not judge or cast aspersions, at those whose opinions differ.
Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
— Romans 14:1-8
I really want you to know that this blog is not about politics or sports. As I mentioned earlier, it’s the phenomenon regarding the “identities” that people assume within the sphere of these battlegrounds that is my point of focus. I believe it’s wonderful when individuals arrive at a common ground after heartfelt, earnest discovery has taken place, resulting in personal conviction - isn’t that the very nature of Christ’s Body, the Church? Indeed. However, this tendency to depend on the convictions of others is garbage, and it proves the underlying slothfulness of the human flesh. Nothing good ever comes from the flesh, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17a).
Learn to have and encourage education in every realm of life, especially when it comes to Holy Scripture. Your personal convictions and, therefore your “vote,” count in this world; for God, Himself, has given this right to you. If you really want to be specific, He’s actually commanded this.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
— 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
