Tribalism: The state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes. The behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group.
Wikipedia: “Humans are social animals, and ill-equipped to live on their own. Tribalism and social bonding help to keep individuals committed to the group, even when personal relations may fray. This keeps individuals from wandering off or joining other groups. It also leads to bullying when a tribal member is unwilling to conform to the politics of the collective.”
1 Cor 1:11 (MSG) I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! 12 I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”
As many of you know I’m not much of a T.V. news watcher. I read a couple online news publications that aren’t linked to the major news of cable networks, but the recent unrest in Ferguson Missouri and the failure by the New York grand jury to indict a police officer whose chokehold resulted in Eric Garner’s death has gotten me back into the T.V. habit. Since Fox & CNN are side by side on my menu of channels, it’s easy to bounce back and forth. I am struck by how each set of newscasters and guests stick with the same narrative that characterizes the political and philosophical loyalties of management. Oh, each one will have their token contrarian on every panel, but it’s usually clear they are an outlier and before the conversation is over they will be severely discredited.
Of course we should be loyal to our group but the inability to think apart from our group sabotages any hope of resolving conflict. Remember the pledge of allegiance? Have you noticed we don’t say it much anymore? Perhaps this one line is the reason we avoid it now. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.” Although I cherish the “under God” part, it’s not my point here. For the point I am trying to make about tribalism and its insidious weakening impact on the fabric of our lives, please focus on the words “one Nation.”
Can you even imagine someone from the liberal progressive tribe and someone from the conservative traditional values tribe actually having a conversation about facts and solutions instead of emotion and accusation? These types of groups have existed for centuries in the Middle East and the Balkans. Once you become a member of a tribe you will kill for that tribe, even if that tribe is wrong. It actually becomes impossible to do anything but defend ones tribe. We are witnessing dangerous tribalism right before our eyes.
Christians are just as susceptible as anyone to blind togetherness loyalties. I have witnessed many who profess to be Christ followers lose the ability to think apart from a small or in some cases a large group they have attached themselves too. Love your group but don’t get stuck in group think, don’t let your ego get fused with others to the point you can’t say, “the emperor has no clothes.” Remember that little parable of the naked ruler parading down the main thoroughfare, but all the socially fused together citizens were unable or unwilling to say what their eyes were seeing, a king in the buff, pretending to be in a royal robe. It took a naïve little boy to shout, “The king has no clothes!”
Lest you think “self differentiation” simply means being a contrarian, let me give you a few guidelines for separating truth from tribalism.
1. Get all the facts.
A video of an African American man apparently being questioned by a police officer for walking down the street with his hands in his pocket by a police officer went viral. It looked like the officer was being petty & prejudice. The fact was the store that he walked back and forth in front of six or seven times while staring into the window had been previously robbed seven times. The store proprietor called 911 and asked the police to check him out. I’m not suggesting there is no racism in America but don’t glom onto a story until you thoroughly check it out. After you check things out, develop a wonderfully complex and nuanced opinion and don’t just parrot the talking points of your tribe.
2. Invite scrutiny and evaluation of yourself and any social groups you belong to.
It may feel very righteous to immediately shut anyone down who finds fault with a member of your family, church, bible study group, fraternity, profession or race, but it may also signal that you are on the path to irrational and toxic tribalism. Yes, you should protect your relationships from harm, but keeping all constructive criticism out is a way to trap infection inside your chosen relational system and actually makes it more likely to be attacked. Closed family type systems prevent their members from growing; and I mean growing in almost every sense of the word.
3. LOVE ALL PEOPLE INCLUDING YOUR ENEMIES.
Unfortunately, the story of Jonah in most people’s minds is all about the miracle of a big fish swallowing a little man, but that’s not the main miracle of the story of Jonah. Jonah was sent by God to preach to the hated enemies of Israel, the “Ninevites.” The main miracle of the story of Jonah is that “we serve an enemy loving God.”
The main sin of tribalism is that we view those not in our tribe as our “enemy,” and in either subtle or not so subtle ways, it can become okay to hate them. In fact it can actually become a moral obligation to destroy them. The ancient Apostle Paul said about his former life in which he persecuted Christians, “For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” (Gal 1:13) Tribalism masked as a zeal for God and turned Saul into a murderer.
Deeply loving those who are not “your people” or who are not of “your tribe” is the way God has chosen to establish His kingdom on the earth. This doesn’t mean we don’t speak out against injustice, nor doesn’t it mean we don’t engage in peaceful protest but it means everybody who comes in our path has an equal chance of being loved by us; this is the hallmark of true Christianity.
