It's easy to let the head shake back and forth and the mind assume that we, who live is such a "civilized" place are so much better than those fighting tribal wars in Afganistan or Sudan. Tongues click and lips purse as we watch their silly wars, wondering when or if just a few might "grow up" and choose to treat each other as real people with the same basic needs--regardless of tribal affiliation.
And then we are reminded, most recently (like, Sunday morning) by Jonathan Haidt, that we function out of the same tribal craziness...we just have resisted picking up guns and directly killing each other. (We are doing it more slowly...coming at it from less angles that aren't as clear, but are every bit as destructive.)
The tribal craziness in Afganistan creates populations who act against their own self-interest, not to mention the interest of others (a tenet that this Christian nation has all but forgotten, and one that most other religions here also practice, including Islam and Judaism). We can see it in others, but in ourselves, we have a blind spot that obliterates all but our preferred television newscaster. We gravitate to positions that agree with our own. We avoid all perspectives that disagree with us. Or, we listen to them, but only through those who will tear them down, ridicule the positions and all those who hold them.
Where does faith play in this story? Surely God's story is not one one side or the other. If we insist on placing God on a side...it is probably the bottom side of all the issues. God always sides with the poor and the outcast. Is there a way to live into God's ideal and together grow up and treat each other as real people with real needs, regardless of our tribal affiliations? I guess we have to admit affiliations first. Then grow up. Good thing we get to live into God's hope here. Otherwise, it might feel pretty hopeless.
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