Democracy sees the value of dialogue for the common good.
Where do we go from here?
It is November 9, and after an exhaustingly long, divisive election that has at times felt apocalyptic, America now has a new President-elect, Donald Trump. But while there has been resolution to the long-contested question of who will occupy the White House come February, the problems that gave rise to (and were exacerbated by) this horrific election will not be gone from America.
We are a nation divided. And the wedges were driven deeper by the vitriol of this campaign. We state our intractable views on everything from race to religion to class to sexuality to culture to Colin Kaepernick. Facebook used to be a place where friends shared updates and photos. Now, it’s a forum for overheated ranting among strangers.
Sadly, Christian communities have been complicit in this culture of divisiveness. Whether the topic is Trump, transgenderism, or refugees, on any given day the Christian Twitterverse is barely distinguishable from any other angry subculture.
American Christians, like all Americans, are being conditioned by the rhetoric of division. It’s the air we breathe on 24-hour cable news, on social media, and in the click-bait articles that favor unnuanced and polarizing headlines. How can a 20-minute Sunday sermon on charity and forbearance compete with 20 hours a week of cable news fear mongering and its polarizing spin? It’s clear that many of our hearts have been formed more by the liturgies of radio talk show hosts than the lessons of Jesus.
For Christians in America, this election should be a wake-up call that we may be losing our salt-and-light calling to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Many of us are instead demonizing our enemies and picketing those who …
