It will soon be two thousand years since the days of Jesus’ ministry teaching and preaching among the peasants of Galilee, Judea and Samaria. Another fifty years and we’ll reach two thousand since the books of the New Testament began to appear. It’s a good time to stop and ask, has Christianity made a difference, and how should we expect our faith to impact the world over the next two thousand years.
Debating what might have been different if Jesus never lived makes an interesting parlor game. I’ve played it in Bible Study classes. Most believers assume Christianity has had a significant and positive influence but others think the good done under the guise of Christian love would have happened anyway -- that people motivated by altruism would have assembled under some secular banner. On the flip side, the religion haters point to the wars and atrocities perpetrated in the name of our faith and the others.
Let’s deal with the haters first. Take Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great. Heard him speak? He’s a hater by nature. If he didn’t have God to dump on, he’d target Bambi. Fact is, our wars and atrocities would have happened regardless of religion. Power and wealth are the motivations for war and oppression. Religion is just an excuse.
On the other hand, you have the hospitals built, the orphans cared for, the children educated under the auspices of various Christian groups. Good work indeed. But would it have happened anyway, under some non-religious motivation? Believe it or not, some atheists are caring people, and given the absence of religion as a counterpoint, who knows what kind of quasi-spiritual regime might have developed. Like I said, an interesting parlor game.
A more serious question for the future is whether Christianity could have done more if it hadn’t been so timid. Can we deny we haven’t lived up to Jesus’ vision? The Jesus of the New Testament is an apocalyptic figure, a confrontational prophet who condemns the culture of his day -- economic and religious -- and declares the coming of a new age, which he calls “the year of the Lord‘s favor.” But instead of fighting to the death for this new age, we Christians did just what the church of his day did -- made peace with the powers and principalities of the world and settled for incremental improvements.
When Jesus described “the year of the Lord’s favor,” he used very concrete terms: the oppressed and the captives would go free, the blind would receive sight and the poor would get relief. He didn’t say the poor would be a little poorer, or the oppressed a little less oppressed. He promised radical change and was killed for saying it was possible. Anyone eager to take up his mission?
When Barack Obama first stood and promised a new age, he was received as almost a messianic figure. But just as we stood and watched Christ’s message shrink to a size comfortable for the culture, Obama’s message has been reduced by others to a plaintive copy of Rodney King’s “why can’t we all just get along.” Jesus was willing to die rather than just get along. Maybe a guy like Jesus doesn’t come along every two thousand years. But if Obama wants to see his message live, he should be ready to speak the full truth and, if need be, let his candidacy die.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Courage Needed to End "Zero-Sum" Thinking
There are some words best left unspoken. If the so-called “N-word” just popped into your head, that’s a good word to forget but not the one I meant.
The word I had in mind is “dialectics.” I’ve watched many a pair of eyes glaze over at it’s mention. Most people have heard it but have only a vague idea what it means -- and no desire to learn more. I promise to keep it simple.
In our contentious culture, we tend to look at life as a contest of opposites in a zero-sum game. If one side increases, the other must decrease. This balance sheet thinking leads people to a cynical world view expressed in phrases like “it’s either you or me,” and “us vs. them.” For every winner there has to a loser, and as bluesman Howlin’ Wolf famously said, “I’d rather go to your funeral any day than have you come to mine.”
In the world of opposites, people hold to their opinions like God had etched them on tablets of stone. To have their positions threatened is to invite anger, depression and a general sense the universe is tilting out of kilter. I had that feeling recently when reading about the case of Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant, who for almost 20 years was paid less than her male counterparts despite having more experience. When she learned she’d been cheated she offered to settle for $60,000 from Goodyear. The company said no and Ms. Ledbetter went to court, where a jury awarded her $223,776 in back pay and more than $3 million in punitive damages.
But eventually the case went to the Supreme Court and the company won on a technicality. Congress then tried to correct that technicality, but enough senators saw it as bad for business and blocked "doing the right thing."
I say “doing the right thing,” because I believe even the people who scuttled Ms. Ledbetter’s chance for fair treatment knew she had been treated unfairly. I don’t think they did it because they are just mean, hate women, or hate women taking “men’s jobs.” I think they got caught up in the world of opposites. To threaten their pro-business, traditional gender roles world view is to threaten the very ground they tread. In other words, they are afraid and immobilized.
The same day I read about Ms. Ledbetter I’m listening to some jazz vocals by Ann Hampton Callaway. She doing a Stephen Sondheim song called No One is Alone. If you’ve been around at all, you know that’s a crock. Lots of people are alone with no one to care about them. Some are even more alone than Ms. Ledbetter felt when the Supreme Court and Congress let her down. But as I listened I thought, “that’s how it ought to be, a culture where no one feels abandoned, a place where if you fall someone will catch you.” Then I’m thinking, some people oppose that culture. They oppose medical care for children, and social security, and fair treatment for Ms. Ledbetter. Didn’t we grow up hearing about the New Deal and the social compact? Now I’m the one feeling angry, afraid, and ready to fight rather than have the secure ground beneath me begin to quiver.
Do you see where I’m going with this? On one side in America, the pro-business, personal responsibility gang. On the other, the social covenant folk who say the culture should make sure life is safe and fair -- that no one is alone. The result is two sides locked in a war of opposites. Which brings me back to dialectics, a formula for moving society forward that says, “have hope; life is not a zero-sum game. We can take the best of both sides and form something new and improved.” But progress requires the return of good will, and that can’t happen if we continue to hole up within our fearful skins. Which is why we need God, or at least faith in a truth bigger than ourselves. On our own we'll never find enough courage and humility to break the stalemate.
The word I had in mind is “dialectics.” I’ve watched many a pair of eyes glaze over at it’s mention. Most people have heard it but have only a vague idea what it means -- and no desire to learn more. I promise to keep it simple.
In our contentious culture, we tend to look at life as a contest of opposites in a zero-sum game. If one side increases, the other must decrease. This balance sheet thinking leads people to a cynical world view expressed in phrases like “it’s either you or me,” and “us vs. them.” For every winner there has to a loser, and as bluesman Howlin’ Wolf famously said, “I’d rather go to your funeral any day than have you come to mine.”
In the world of opposites, people hold to their opinions like God had etched them on tablets of stone. To have their positions threatened is to invite anger, depression and a general sense the universe is tilting out of kilter. I had that feeling recently when reading about the case of Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant, who for almost 20 years was paid less than her male counterparts despite having more experience. When she learned she’d been cheated she offered to settle for $60,000 from Goodyear. The company said no and Ms. Ledbetter went to court, where a jury awarded her $223,776 in back pay and more than $3 million in punitive damages.
But eventually the case went to the Supreme Court and the company won on a technicality. Congress then tried to correct that technicality, but enough senators saw it as bad for business and blocked "doing the right thing."
I say “doing the right thing,” because I believe even the people who scuttled Ms. Ledbetter’s chance for fair treatment knew she had been treated unfairly. I don’t think they did it because they are just mean, hate women, or hate women taking “men’s jobs.” I think they got caught up in the world of opposites. To threaten their pro-business, traditional gender roles world view is to threaten the very ground they tread. In other words, they are afraid and immobilized.
The same day I read about Ms. Ledbetter I’m listening to some jazz vocals by Ann Hampton Callaway. She doing a Stephen Sondheim song called No One is Alone. If you’ve been around at all, you know that’s a crock. Lots of people are alone with no one to care about them. Some are even more alone than Ms. Ledbetter felt when the Supreme Court and Congress let her down. But as I listened I thought, “that’s how it ought to be, a culture where no one feels abandoned, a place where if you fall someone will catch you.” Then I’m thinking, some people oppose that culture. They oppose medical care for children, and social security, and fair treatment for Ms. Ledbetter. Didn’t we grow up hearing about the New Deal and the social compact? Now I’m the one feeling angry, afraid, and ready to fight rather than have the secure ground beneath me begin to quiver.
Do you see where I’m going with this? On one side in America, the pro-business, personal responsibility gang. On the other, the social covenant folk who say the culture should make sure life is safe and fair -- that no one is alone. The result is two sides locked in a war of opposites. Which brings me back to dialectics, a formula for moving society forward that says, “have hope; life is not a zero-sum game. We can take the best of both sides and form something new and improved.” But progress requires the return of good will, and that can’t happen if we continue to hole up within our fearful skins. Which is why we need God, or at least faith in a truth bigger than ourselves. On our own we'll never find enough courage and humility to break the stalemate.
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