By
Rudy Barnes, Jr.
Before the Superbowl, the Philadelphia
Eagles’ coach told his team: An
individual can make a difference, but a team can make a miracle. Perhaps winning the Superbowl was a miracle. In our culture of competition and conflict success
requires being on a winning team. But should
winning competitive contests be the measure of success?
George
Orwell described the hostility at the heart of major sports events in his 1945
essay on The Sporting Spirit. Orwell cited
a contentious football match in England to make his point: “Serious sport has
nothing to do with fair play. It is
bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and
sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.”
Orwell’s
depiction of unrestrained competition in sports could also describe American politics
and religion. They have always been competitive,
but the Trump election ushered in a nasty era of related political and
religious conflicts that resemble football on steroids. Trump is a narcissist who thrives on continuous
conflict, which he fosters with daily Tweets.
Unlike
sports, competition and success in politics and religion is based on popularity. Jesus was a radical Jew who knew that his
teachings on sacrificial love would never be popular (Luke 13:24). Jesus was neither a team player nor a
peacemaker, but he blessed peacemakers in the
Beatitudes, saying that “they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9).
It
is ironic that Christianity became a popular religion despite the teachings of
Jesus on sacrificial love. That was made
possible by exclusivist church doctrines that subordinated the teachings of
Jesus to belief in Jesus as God’s one and only Son who died as a blood
sacrifice to save believers from sin. When
that atonement doctrine eliminates the cost of discipleship it is a form of
cheap grace, but it enabled Christianity to become the world’s most popular religion.
How
does that relate to politics? The evangelical
prosperity gospel trumped the gospel of Jesus with promises of wealth and power
to its followers. They elected Donald Trump
to power, but they lack moral legitimacy.
The question is whether the altruistic teachings of Jesus can ever regain
primacy over the false promises of the prosperity gospel in Christianity. The future of the church hangs in the
balance, as well as the future of America’s democracy.
The
gospel accounts reveal the conundrum of Christian morality in politics. No democracy has ever chosen altruistic love
for others over love for themselves, but no democracy can survive for long if
does not balance individual rights with providing for the common good. Today, America is a nation with a two party
duopoly that is polarized, stigmatized and unable to function; but Americans have
remained loyal to its partisan duopoly, to a fault.
Competition
and conflict may be the way of the world, but reconciliation is the way to
bring God’s kingdom and God’s will into the world. The reconciliation of any conflict should be
based on the greatest commandment to
love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is a
common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and should be
used by peacemakers as the common ground to reconcile religious and political
conflicts.
When
competition and conflict prevail in politics and religion, winning is
everything and everyone is a loser. Convincing hostile parties to love their enemy
is not easy, but that’s the purpose of reconciliation and it’s the mission of peacemakers
in our dysfunctional democracy.
As in sports, peacemaking in
political and religious conflicts requires calling a time out to consider the
best way to continue the contest in order to benefit both sides.
The
winter Olympics in South Korea has given a major world conflict a peaceful overlay
of sports competition. After threatening
the U.S. with nuclear destruction, North Korea is making overtures of peace and
reconciliation to South Korea, while Vice President Pence is at the Olympics reportedly
urging South Korea to resist such overtures.
It illustrates that peacemaking can be a ruse to exacerbate conflict as
well as a means to reconcile it.
Peacemakers
are essential to reconcile contentious political and religious conflicts at
home and abroad. Reconciliation cannot
be imposed by force. People must relearn
how to talk to each other and to disagree agreeably. Interfaith dialogue can help us do that, and promote
the religious and political reconciliation needed to preserve the fabric of our
democracy; but few peacemakers are being heard over the cacophony of religious
and political bickering.
Notes:
George Orwell saw the wild and
often mean-spirited enthusiasm for sports connected with nationalism: “There
cannot be much doubt that the whole thing [commercially financed sports] is
bound up with the rise of nationalism—that is, with the lunatic modern habit of
identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of
competitive prestige.” See http://www.orwell.ru/library/articles/spirit/english/e_spirit.
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