Religious Pluralism
If you have read what I have written about Christian nationalism over the past several years, you might conclude that I disapprove of Christians engaging in politics. If so, you would be making an incorrect assumption. To see social change, we must make our interests and priorities known. However, I do not believe politics belongs in the pulpit. The Romans, the British, and even the Puritans tried government religion with disastrous consequences. Yet Christians should vote and work with others to make this a better nation.
While serving as a police and fire chaplain, I understood I operated in a pluralistic environment. My responsibility was to minister to people, often on one of the worst days of their lives, using their spiritual resources. I quit chaplaincy because my faith is exclusive. I believe Jesus is the only way to God and the only dependable help in troubling times. There was no way I could keep the Good News to myself. Religious pluralism was not for me. However, I believe that others may worship anyone or anything they wish.
When their god takes on human form to show what it, he or she is like, then dies to spare those whose faith is in it/him/her the penalty they deserve, and promises to prepare a place for them to spend eternity with it/him/her, I might reconsider my position. Until then, I hope they’ll allow me to tell them who Jesus is, what he did for them, and what he promises to do for them. That position alone excludes me from being a religious pluralist. But notice, I am open to hearing what they believe and not inclined to force them to worship or believe as I do. Furthermore, I oppose those who do.
Political Pluralism
It should be all hands on deck when it comes to finding political solutions to the nation’s problems. No individual politician, party or faith community has all the answers. That is why the Framers gave us a democratic republic. We are better together. Collaboration nearly always produces better results. The problem with politics today is that those who govern have stopped collaborating and listening to their constituents and to each other. If they won’t communicate and collaborate, we have to. We’ve got to be willing to listen and honestly consider what those on the “other side” have to offer.
Bespoke Reality and Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is our tendency to process information by looking for or interpreting information that is consistent with our existing beliefs. Bespoke realities is similar. Last November, New York Times contributor David French wrote about bespoke realities in his newsletter. He got that term from Renée DiResta, the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. It refers to communities living in an information bubble where they “operate with their own norms, media, trusted authorities and frameworks of facts.”
French described them like this. “They have entire worldviews rooted in a comprehensive network of misunderstandings and false beliefs.” He concluded, “We’re misinformed not because the government is systematically lying or suppressing the truth. We’re misinformed because we like the misinformation we receive and are eager for more.” The algorithms also protect us from hearing anything that would cause us to question what we think we know. And according to French, the more politically active we are, the more challenging bespoke realities are to avoid.
Faulty Conclusions
Our bespoke realities lead us to hold mistaken opinions of those of the other political party. French cited a 2019 study from a group called More in Common that found “those who follow the news “most of the time” were roughly three times as wrong about their opponents as those who follow the news “hardly at all.”
There is a reason the United States is a world leader. But we won’t remain one if we don’t get out of our silos and informational echo chambers and recognize what is happening thanks to information algorithms that keep serving up the same song with a different verse.
Ironically, those who fear Artificial Intelligence the most are influenced by cable news algorithms offering perspectives they already hold. Thanks to confirmation bias, nothing seems amiss. Turn off the TV and talk! If you are unwilling to listen to opposing views, that only indicates you are not too confident in your beliefs.
Get Involved
I encourage you to check out two organizations working to end political polarization. The first is The After Party. And the second is Braver Angels. There was a time when politics and religion were taboo subjects in social settings. But as Bob Dylan might remind us, “The times, they are a changin’.” The melding of politics and religion is widening the divide between us. We need to uncouple Christianity from secular politics but not disengage from political discourse or cease exercising our privilege to vote.
Those of us who want change need to use biblical tactics. A good starting point would be these two passages of Scripture, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 | ESV) And the second is Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)
Followers of Jesus are blessed if we are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). If the craziness that is American politics is to be mitigated, it will take ordinary people like us to lead the way. It worked in Nineveh in Jonah’s time and it will work in ours. We can start the process by repenting, demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in political conversations, doing justice in the voting booth, loving even our enemies, and walking humbly with our Lord.