The Conservative Church Is At A Crossroads

The times have caused movement within the conservative Church in America. Religiously conservative Christians are being pulled from multiple directions. Their penchant for political conservatism has them divided between supporting Trump and fellow conservatives who oppose Trump. In addition, mere observation and the influence of Post Modernism are telling many of them that because of the prevalence of systemic racism, we need to make changes. The demand for equality from the LGBT community also muddies the waters for many such conservative Christians. More and more conservative Christians feel forced into what is really a false dichotomy between supporting  equality for that community with the acceptance of homosexuality as a allowable sexual orientation for Christians or choosing to continue marginalizing that community.

And there are other divisive issues for the conservative Christian Church down the road. Some are already feeling the pull away from the economic system they grew up with. And what should we say about patriotism? Is it another religion?

So religiously conservative American Christians are at a crossroad. But it isn't the kind of crossroad one would expect with the conflicts tugging at us from different directions. The crossroad we are facing isn't whether we should remain politically conservative or not--I have personally decided to opt out of political conservatism. Rather, the choice we have is whether we will continue to embrace tribalism or not. Currently we hear the siren songs from a few groups that ask us to be tribal. They include the old groups like the Republican Party and conservative political ideology. But now we need to question whether we will retain tribal loyalty to our nation and whether we will embrace tribalism if we change party and politically ideological alliances. In other words, our choice is whether or not we want to continue to embrace tribalism.

Of course the big question is what do I mean by tribalism. There are several definitions and the one I am using is a post Cold War, sociological definition. That definition spoke of tribalism as having a high degree of loyalty to one's group regardless of what that group revolved around. In Christian terms, we could define tribalism as what occurs in a person when loyalty to a group trumps commitment to principles and morals.  When tribalism holds sway over a person's life, then because of loyalty what is right and wrong to a person depends on who does what to whom. In other words when one's own group does the same hurtful action to another group, it is not wrong. But when that other group does that same hurtful action to one's own group, it is wrong. And all of that is because loyalty determines what is right and wrong.

It follows then that tribalism interferes with one recognizing the real faults of one's own group. And when that occurs for us Christians, then we become incapable of speaking prophetically to our own groups. So while we have no problem with trying to correct others, we become offended and even defiant when others return the favor.

Thus, in essence tribalism becomes group authoritarianism. And thus the traits that are part of the authoritarian personality type become part of the person who embraces tribalism. When the authority or values and traditions of one's own group are challenged by others, one responds to them with hostility. In addition, tribalism causes one to think in black-white terms so that those within the tribe are regarded as being on the side of good and those outside of the tribe are seen as a threat. Here we must remember the words of Obi-Wan as he confronted Anakin Skywalker after Anakin had turned to the Dark Side: 'only a Sith deals in absolutes'--of course us Christians should note the limits of such a statement. No one from any group is seen as a mixture of being both good and bad. There is also the strong desire for one's group to have as much absolute control and power over those from other groups as much as possible.

So the choice we religiously conservative Christians have is not which political ideology we will choose. Rather, our choice is whether or not we will take a balanced approach to the groups we belong to. Our choice is whether we will have a higher allegiance to what God's Word teaches than our loyalty to the groups we belong to so we can speak prophetically to our own groups. And if we don't look at people in black-white terms, then we will have to choose to listen to others outside of our groups with the intent of learning from them.

Right now, the poll percentages that report on evangelical loyalty to President Trump indicates that we are still choosing tribalism. And that is confirmed by how many evangelicals view those who are not politically and ideologically conservative. And our tribalism is also confirmed by how we are so impressed by power and want our group to have the power so we don't have to collaborate with others.

So the question isn't whether we religously conservative Christians will become political liberals or even leftists. The question is whether we will tone down our loyalty to the earthly groups we belong to so that we can more closely follow God's Word and speak prophetically to the groups we hold so near and dear.