Dehumanization & Political Polarization
Does the United States of America feel united? Has it ever? I imagine this very question would be answered differently according to the real stories of real experiences endured by real people. Depending on your experiences the United States may have felt united at some point in your lifetime, or you may have never felt the privilege of a United States of America. Many within our country have experienced the divided states of America more so than the United States of America.
We forget something rather quickly when we buy into the overpromises of political polarization, humanity. Humanity gets lost when all of life becomes about political policy, political affiliation, political affections, and political actions. The extremes of both sides of the political aisle are guilty of this dehumanizing. My intention here is not to write a political blog post that throws shade at Democrats, Republicans, or any other political party for that matter. I find considerable value in having a variety of viewpoints represented within our political process. My hope is to draw our attention back to the real people, who have real stories about the lives they have lived in the United States of America. My point here is less about the positions, but the people on the other side of those positions.
This past June presented another opportunity for us to divide ourselves based on our perspectives about Roe v Wade and its overturning. I certainly have a perspective as I believe everyone should, but that isn’t what this particular blog post is about. I find myself in the middle holding space for both/and realities of perspectives on this very matter. I am a Christian and believe in the sanctity of human life in that I believe all life should be valued from the point of conception to death. I am not and would never advocate for the taking of any life including the life of innocent babies inside the womb who do not have the capacity to make choices for themselves or voice those very choices. I am not simply a pro-birth Christian and regularly advocate for involvement and am actively participating in many social issues connected to life and the quality of life for all of humanity. At the same time, I believe this conversation requires nuance. For example, when it comes to matters of preserving the life of a baby or the baby’s mother, whose life do we preserve? My wife recently gave birth to our first biological child. If something happened and I was forced to make the choice to preserve her life or baby Henri’s, what choice should I make? I understand this is a nuanced question, but can we at least recognize and honor the complexity of having to make tough decisions in honor of preserving life? It’s simply more complex than either the polarized right or the polarized left has made it seem.
Neither, from my perspective, does a great job of honoring the humanity of people. Positions are often elevated to a supreme reign and people are dehumanized in the process. Political polarization demands that we take simplistic sides on really complex issues. This is just one example of hundreds of policies, laws, and realities that real people with real stories have to wrestle with on a daily basis. Both sides seem to prey on every catastrophe, on every political action, on every judicial ruling like vultures. In doing so, I often feel forced to pick sides, to choose either/or actions that often represent and need both/and approaches. In all of this, what does it look like to honor the humanity of the real people that have real stories that live in the wake of these catastrophes and live with the effects of these policies and rulings?
At the bare minimum, we must see people as humans, not as positions. Scripture invites us to be quick to listen and slow to speak, but political polarization doesn’t hold space for that, if anything it criminalizes it in its demands to speak and act quickly! If we are going to see people as the humans they are, we are going to need to slow down. We’re going to need to sit down with real people and make space for hearing each other and seeking understanding with one another. Political polarization demands agreement, and love invites understanding. Behind each reaction are real feelings of real people who have experienced real pain.
I once had a series of meeting with an extremely outspoken advocate for the abolition of abortion rights. In many ways, we shared a lot of common ground positionally. My hope for our conversations was to advocate for a softer approach to how he was communicating his information and position. I told him often that I believed people needed to hear his perspective but the ways he was going about sharing his perspective were severely limiting his audience. I got very curious about his rage concerning this issue and discovered over time, in the context of face-to-face interaction and conversation, that he had experienced unimaginable pain surrounding this issue. He had a girlfriend who had gotten pregnant and had an abortion without his input. This child whom he wanted and was committed to providing for was taken from him without no input. At that moment I was able to see through his tears why he was so angry and passionate about the abolition of abortion. He was a real person with a real story full of real pain, not merely a position.
Similarly, I have sat with many women who felt that there were no options and that other people had more control over their own bodies and decisions than they did. These conversations were accompanied by real fears about what effect decisions made for them would have on their bodies and their lives. These stories included real fears about decisions they would potentially have to make to preserve their own lives without the capacity to do so because of legislation that would prohibit the ability to choose their own lives. Each of them has had stories and has experienced pains that were unimaginable to me. These were real people with real stories full of real pain, not merely positions.
Again, my aim is not to declare one position more valuable, faithful, or correct than the other, my goal here is for us to see one another for the real people that we are, and to honor each other’s humanity even when we disagree on BIG issues that have BIG consequences. What would it look like for us to hold positions passionately, but love people even more passionately? Jesus when asked by the Pharisees what the greatest commandment in all of the Law was he responded in this way according to Matthew 22:37-40; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Anything not posted in love, anything not spoken in love, any reaction or response that is not offered in love, anything that does not lead us to a deeper love of God and our neighbors have missed the mark.
May we move towards one another with:
Curiosity
May we withhold judgment long enough to see the person, not just the position. May we withhold judgment long enough to hear the real stories and the real pain motivating the raw reactions. We would be well served by asking more questions and making fewer statements. We would be well served by listening more than we speak. May we be slow to anger, as God is slow to anger. Spiritual maturity is less marked by the absence of anger and more by the pace of anger. May the pace of our anger be slow working towards love.
Compassion
When we have a genuine concern for another we are more patient, we can welcome them with love instead of distancing them with hate. Polarized politics demands outrage, and makes enemies. Jesus welcomed sinners, ate with them, and made friends. So much so that this infuriated the religious elites of His day and ultimately culminated in His death. May our lives to be marked as people who welcome sinners, eat with them and make friends with them.
Courage
May we have the courage to not buy into the dehumanizing hype of political polarization. May we have the courage to slow down, lean in, be patient, and seek understanding. May we be generous with our time, talents, and treasures towards the very people whom political polarization sets out to make our enemies. For those of us who are in Christ, that's our hope, isn’t it? We were once enemies of God and by the death burial and resurrection of Jesus, we have been made sons and daughters. It’s HIS kindness that leads us to repentance again and again not His harshness, may we have the courage to be kind. May we have the courage to not bow down to the demands of an outrage culture that only knows how to fight outrage with more outrage which simply yet surely only culminates in more outrage. May we have the courage to look through the position of the person and have the courage to love the person, as Christ has loved us despite our and their position.
These words of Jesus above are deeply convicting to me as I examine my interactions within any context over the past several years. Our world has grown more politically divided, and political polarization has been more dehumanizing than dignity-giving. How do these words of Jesus about all of the Law and Prophets culminating in love find you at this moment? How might God be inviting you to move towards him and towards those around you in love? Is the United States of America truly united? Who can say, but may those who follow the person and ways of Jesus be united in their love of God and love of those who bear His image.
**Disclaimer**
Much that is politically motivated is complex, needs considerable nuance, and preferring one another in love to be helpful. I welcome any interactions that seek to work toward the end of understanding and love. My email is mkorte@missiodei.org, let’s get a cup of coffee or grab a beer and chat!
My promise is to listen to your story without judgment and to seek to understand ways that I can love you as Christ has loved me, nothing else.
The Elders of Missio Dei released this official Position Paper regarding the Sanctity to of life to our membership on September 27, 2022!
Submitted by: Matthew Korte