Yesterday, at break, one of my coworkers made a joke about something our new president had tweeted. Instantly my blood pressure rose and while I continued to banter along with him, I struggled to keep it civil. These days opinions are just as divided as ever, but there seems to be a greater chasm between them. What unites us appears to be less and less important this year as what divides us. And tensions are running high, as I can attest to personally.
This idea of how people get along when they believe very different things about how the world works is not a new subject to me. I grew up in a protestant church, so focusing on what divides us comes very naturally to me. Protestants have traditionally dealt with differing opinions in one of two ways.
First, they have taken the easiest route and simply left to form a new church. This is pretty much the way protestantism started actually. Martin Luther fought against very real abuses in the catholic church of his day. Eventually he gave up trying to change the church from the inside and left it entirely, forming his own church to stand in contrast to it. His example was followed by many others: Calvin, Zwingli and it seems like every protestant name you'd recognize since then. I believe I heard recently there were over 2,500 different protestant denominations in the world today. And considering how many opinions even the least opinionated of us have, I imagine that number will continue to grow.
What is sad about this state of things is that the only unity a church has is only temporary. It can honestly be said that the only reason they exist is because they haven't yet figured out why they shouldn't. Is this really the way humanity was meant to function? This fracturing of society on the basis of opinion can be seen in our politics, or neighborhoods, even our families. There are clear lines drawn in the sand and if I happen to share a space with someone that's only because we have't yet gotten around to dragging our stick between us.
The second option seems better. There is a movement in protestantism towards more unity. Maybe its not new, I've only recently become aware of it. Unity is important--so important that we should pursue it whether we agree or not. In a recent conversation with a friend, he told me that he is fine if his pastor follows a different theological path than this own as long as it lines up for the most part. He knows what he knows and he is willing to accept that others may not be as far along the path as he is. And so, in "love", he accepts his less "immature" brother, hoping that one day he'll agree with him.
This isn't just my friend. Whole denominations have been built on this premise. And in the short term it works pretty well. Maybe some of those "immature" people even end up changing their minds and coming around to someone else's version of truth. But in reality the only way this can work is if everyone just stops talking about anything of any importance at all.
In Orthodoxy, which I will admit I am a part of so I may have some bias, they have a different approach to unity. The Unity of Acceptance and Tolerance looks to them like a whitewashed tomb. It is pretty on the outside. But in the heart, from which all things flow, there is pride and arrogance. In the Orthodox approach, unity begins and ends with humility. What I think about anything is not as important as what we think about anything. The rule of thumb is "all believers, everywhere and at all times". When it comes to theology, nobody gets to be creative, at least not outside the bounds of tradition. I am right to say that I live 2,000 years after Christ, I know him only through what has been taught to me by my church and what I read in scriptures written in a different language and culture than my own. And so my opinion does not actually carry a lot of weight.
As an American, that is a painful thought to bear, at least at first. We are taught from birth that our opinion about everything IS everything. I was asking my baby boy what he wanted to wear as soon as he was able to gesture towards one shirt or another. Why? Can it be possible that his thoughts about what onesie to put on that day has any bearing on what he actually should put on? Can my opinions about the deep things of God be any different?
Unity isn't a pipe dream. It is real and it is achievable. But it is also costly. It will cost every one of us our very lives. It is not an easy thing to consider another's point of view. It is risky. They may actually be right. Which would make me wrong. It would make me the less "mature" one. Maybe maturity isn't about being correct as much as it is being humble. Maybe unity isn't as much about not-fighting as much as it is about submitting. Maybe what our country needs from its churches is an example of actual unity. Of loving submission and care. Of humility.
For my part I will continue to say "I don't know" to nearly every political thought thrown at me. I will continue to play devil's advocate and stand up for the side that isn't present to defend themselves. And that's hard because I really do have an opinion and I really do think I'm more mature than you. But I also know that that kind of thinking isn't going to get us anywhere. And so I shall submit as best I can in the name of love. It is the only thing I can think of that will save us.