When Them Is Us

By now we all know that American politics and American Christianity are divided into warring camps. The labels may shift. Sometimes it’s progressive vs. orthodox, or Christian vs. secular; sometimes it’s red vs. blue, but always the discussion comes down to Us vs. Them.

I’ve thought about this a lot lately, because I’m one of Us who spends many of his non-working hours embedded with the forces of Them. I am against the war and free trade. I’m all for government environmental and labor regulations, and more of them. I don’t think gender roles are mandated by God for all time, and I am not bothered by the fact that life on earth has evolved over millions of years. But for the past seven years, I’ve found myself actively involved in voluntary associations often dominated by people who don’t share any of these views. And I’ve found that I have more in common with some of Them than I do with many of Us.