Dangerous Divisions

Some of you may know that I write a weekly column for the West Plains Daily Quill's Religion page. I have had everyone from Presbyterians to Pennecostals tell me they read my column, at least on occasion. Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Unitarians, members of the Church of Christ, non-denominational folk, agnostics and more have commented favorably on my various musings. I am certain I have not always written things with which all of them agree, but those who disagree have not been unpleasant with their assessments, at least not to my face. (And I do appreciate that. I hope I'm always prepared for constructive criticism, but a kind word of encouragement is so much nicer!)

My point is not to pat myself on the back, or to seek praise, my point is this: civility, kindness and fellowship are possible, even when people fundamentally disagree on certain issues. As this new year is still relatively young, my hope would be that this spirit of agreement would expand to include an ever-increasing number of people, not just with religious differences, but across cultural and racial lines, and even extending, dare I say it, to include political divisions.

There is nothing to be gained by intentionally provoking one another in mean-spirited ways, but that is what so often happens when people disagree. We don't just stick to the issues at hand. Instead, attacks often become personal, tempers flare and un-Christlike behavior erupts that must be make Satan beam with pride. Believe me, I'm not writing this because I'm defending either the Left or the Right. I'm done with politics myself. Seriously. Done.

At this juncture in history, there seems to be little possibility that politics has a chance to succeed in solving much of anything, because there is a destructive force created by division, and division is what results from non-stop political sniping. Certainly there is nothing wrong with thoughtful conversation about opposing views, but so much of the current conversation isn't conversation at all. Both sides sides seem to be in full-on personal attack mode.

Scripture warns there should be no divisions among us. Divisions are destructive, pure and simple. They make progress impossible; as the Book of Mark notes, "a house divided against itself will not be able to stand."

A friend of mine said rightly recently, "We all need to strive to love each other and take care of each other. If we would honor this, the other stuff would take care of itself." And scripture agrees. Proverbs 10:11-12 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions."

Let our striving be for love, peace and understanding. Let us leave divisions behind.