We see the world in simple dualist terms: we are the good
guys who follow the good authority figures and we have the right answers; they
are the bad guys who consciously or unconsciously fight on the wrong side of
the cosmic struggle between good and evil. We feel a deep sense of identity and
belonging in our in-group…. This simple, dualist faith gives us great
confidence.
This confidence, of course, has a danger, as the old Bob
Dylan classic “With God on Our Side” makes clear: “You don’t count the dead
when God’s on your side.” The same sense
of identification with an in-group that generates a warm glow of belonging and
motivates sacrificial action for us can sour into intolerance, hatred, and even
violence toward them. And the same easy, black-and-white answers that comfort
and reassure us now may later seem arrogant, naive, ignorant, and harmful, if
we don’t move beyond Simplicity in the fullness of time.
Brian
McLaren, quoted by Richard Rohr
_____________________________
I love being “right”
I love having a sense of “rightness”
There is something profoundly comforting about thinking
one has “gotten it right”
especially when one is surrounded by those
with like minds
who agree
ah! the power of
groupthink
that cultish devotion to us
as we gird our loins and brandish our
sacred texts
and prepare for war against “them”
it is comforting to settle into that space
where was does not have to think too much
examine too much
feel too much
where mindless devotion flourishes
and zeal drives us into mindless action
where complications are discarded
like fast-food wrappers
and we rage against the enemy
against “sin” (as we define it)
it is good to be right
it is good to have power
it is good to be in control
except
the cost is great
the “foot soldiers” in this ideological war
are expendable
it does not matter if women are
minimized, marginalized, oppressed, suppressed
it does not matter if they die
only one thing matters
well two things really
a zygote
and a sense of righteousness and merit
if those on our side suffer, it is noble pain
rewarded in heaven
if those on the other side suffer
it is the just consequence of their actions
for which they must pay
it does not matter if LGBTQI+ people are demonized and
killed
it does not matter if the poor get poorer
it does not matter if our country pillages the resources
of another
it does not matter if there is a mass shooting every day
you don’t count the dead when God is on your side
it is all very simple
and so we approach life
and economics, politics, and religion
with confidence
our flags fly high (from the back of jacked-up pickup
trucks)
we are the victors
we are right
just believe, just behave, just fall in line
it’s not complicated
except it is
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