Volume 6, Issue 18
Our foundational belief system constructs our world view.
In a recent focus group conducted by ABC News, average Americans were recruited for an in-depth group discussion. The criteria for participation was that half would be Democrat and half Republican, and all were self-defined as angry. The conclusion reached by the moderator, after several hours of penetrating dialog, is that America is more divided than ever. It is not just that we are divided on issues, we are divided on who we are as a people.
We are reverting back to tribal identity.
Identifying by culture or circumstances is instinctive to human nature. In ancient Israel, there were twelve tribes of society. Each possessed distinctive characteristics in purpose for tribal mandates. Privilege throughout history has largely been determined by family blood lines. Royalty in Europe was distinctively orchestrated through the continuity of hereditary rights. Control of government power had followed along tribal and hereditary lines until the American Revolution. After 1776, birth ultimately ceased to determine destiny.
Excerpts from the focus group gave evidence to the cause of such division. When the moderator asked who supports a border wall, several raised their hands. A few others immediately responded, “You are racist.” Even when those who indicated support of a wall were given a chance to explain that it was more about security than immigration, those who saw such a response as racist were not swayed. One participant was adamant that a border wall’s only purpose was to “keep people like me out.” She was an American citizen. Yet she aligned in identity more closely with the immigrants.
Further, only thirty percent of those of a liberal mindset believed that America provides opportunity for them today. Seventy-four percent of those of a conservative mindset felt that opportunity is still available. This is further evidence that Americans are deeply divided on the value prospect of the American Dream.
A definition of Faith is believing in a cause greater than yourself, established by an original source whose or which existence you cannot prove. A Christian believes in a personal and caring God and Son whose words are documented in the Bible. This word contains the tenets for the guidelines, boundaries and exercise of morality. Most laws, and therefore policy, in Western culture are based on this Judeo-Christian code.
An atheist places his or her faith in the theology of an accidental occurrence of life emanating from an unemotional, inorganic, cold, dark universe. Morality then has no original meaning. How could it? For four and a half billion years, evolution was driven by ‘survival of the fittest – eat or be eaten.’ In early civilizations, the goal was to survive in a societal microcosm. The identity of distinct colonies of early man became tribal in identity. More often than not, fear of interaction with other colonies was fueled by the axiom of ‘kill or be killed.’
Yet, in all of this, the concept of right or wrong somehow presented itself in the psyche of man, captured by the subconscious and conscious ethereal intellect of mankind. Therefore, because of this untethered spontaneous emergence, morality is constantly being redefined as current trends dictate and the reason of man so supports.
This faith in man’s intellect and its origin is an atheist’s religion.
It is this denial by individuals that all committed morality is the result of a faith in either an uncaused cause or the inexplicable emergence of morality as a happenstance. This faith, therefore, forms one’s world view. A world view produces a reflective culture. Such a culture produces policy to support the determining factors of the world view.
If one’s world view is Hinduism, then a person in need lying on the street may be in that condition because of a sin in a prior life. The person can only escape into a better life by paying the penance presented in the existing life. To, in fact, aid the person can invade their karma, disrupting the spiritual process. This leads to a culture of a caste system reflective of the world view. Policy and government priorities are directed towards the current power structure. The needy are largely left to fend for themselves.
In an atheist world view, right and wrong is sanctioned by the collective intellect of mankind. Based on morality’s undefined and unconnected origins of evolution, philosophical creeds change and evolve in a rhythm aligned with a people’s carnal desires. Desire justifies the evolution of morality. In this religion, the great unproven cause is the environment that produced man’s intellect. By this theology, such intellect has evolved into a perfect gyroscope, balancing all emotional forces of nature in good and evil.
This world view creates a reflective culture of changing moors and standards, no matter how destructive to the family structure. Government policy is therefore sought which supports the unrestrained nature of mankind.
In the Christian world view, the central creed is ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ This is meant to be extended even to non-Christian neighbors. Such a world view produces a reflective culture which cherishes life at all levels, under all circumstances, and involving all cultures. Freedom to enjoy unalienable rights granted by a benevolent God is the societal objective. Policy resulting from this culture is governed by rule of law, due process, and transparency.
In the emergence of society at the dawn of the age of homo sapiens, tribal identity was critical to the essential element of surviving. Reverting back to tribal structure will exacerbate cultural, ethnic, and gender identity politics. In this reversion, society will be intractably divided.
In today’s political debate, it is incumbent upon every citizen of the world to personally examine that religion to which they hold allegiance. By the definitions of faith set out above, every world view is, in fact, a religious world view. The resulting culture and government policy galvanized by one’s world view must be recognized. Each citizen is responsible for his or her own originating world view.
It is equally negligent to claim benignity. For in one’s abandonment of principle, other false and harmful world views reign.
Ignoring the responsibility for cognizant recognition of one’s world view, while still exercising a political voice, without respect for disruptive consequences, results in spiritual subterfuge.
By any definition of faith, morality is a spiritual commitment. Demanding a policy that supports a culture of tribal identity, while at the same time defying unifying principles of Judeo-Christian scripture, is exercising an artifice of expediency to evade the root cause of societal disruption to the benefit of division.
Regardless of one’s faith, spirituality is based on an uncaused cause greater than oneself. Committing to a faith that holds promise for everyone, inviting each to its community table, is the moral imperative for each of us.
This is most critical for every American. Why?
Because we are the Great Experiment of assimilation of all tribes, nationalities, ethnicities, and cultures. We were established on the principle that birth is not destiny. We are not only the world’s example, we are the world’s only hope for societal spiritual success.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?