The Fractionalization of Faith

I was born into an Italian Catholic family and spent the first eight years of my formal education in Catholic parochial school. Being able to visit the Vatican Palace many years later was one of the highlights of my life. The picture above shows a portion of the Palace and the courtyard where the “faithful” gather when the Pope addresses the masses at designated times. The wooden fencing and other barriers, which restrict access to this area, manage the visiting crowds. This practice of dividing, separating, and restricting is a necessary function in todays’ times to protect and preserve the people, places, and customary practices of our faith. We accept it as a necessary inconvenience in order to practice our faith and are accustomed to these inconveniences.

However, there are divides in our various communities of faith that are not so comfortable. These are not physical barriers like those pictured above, but restrictions in grace, tolerance and understanding with one another. These divides are not easily seen and perhaps not even evident until they are acted out in some fashion. For the most part the divisions are not with regard to issues of faith directly but rather indirectly. The various denominations of faith communities have learned to co-exist regardless of doctrinal differences. The great divides are not Catholic vs. Protestant, Evangelical vs. Non-Evangelical, or Pentecostal vs. Non-Pentecostal. The great divides occur over political and social issues within these faith communities.

I believe there is a lens through which faith is seen more and more in a secular way by the evangelical communities.  That is, outcome is more important than method.  Results are more important than relationship.  Insult has often replaced integrity in the political leadership we support. A hypocrisy has been birthed in evangelicals that regarding certain social issues personal rights prevail over the greater good, while in other social issues the universal good prevails over the individual rights of a person.  For example, many evangelicals support unrestricted gun rights as a second amendment right guaranteed by the Constitution. In so doing they ignore the greater good of providing protection for every American from mass murder and gang violence that would be provided with the criminalization of automatic weapons.  Another example is a large number of evangelicals support the banning of abortion based on saving the life of the unborn but at the same time fully endorse capital punishment. These inconsistencies are not insurmountable by themselves. However, the divide in the evangelical communities has increased due to the polarization of these issues in our political process. That is, these social issues are driving an identification to a political party as a priority over the identification of one’s faith.

Barbara F. Walter is an International Relations Professor at the University of California, San Diego who has recently published “How Civil Wars Start.” In it she states, “Countries that are considered “fractionalized” have identity-based political parties that are often intransigent and inflexible.” She goes on to explain the level of fractionalism in a country ranges from having a fully competitive political system to a fully repressed system. Walter goes on to say that if a country has political systems that are identity-based, statistically speaking they have gone halfway from a fully competitive political system to a fully repressed political system. Additionally, she states that political supporters of fractionalism encourage loyalty, not by rallying people around policy issues but by using words and symbols related to identity – religious phrases, historical rallying cries, visual images. Walter also states, “Factionalism is unyielding, grasping, identity-based politics, and it’s often a precursor to war.”

I am not suggesting that our country is on the verge of civil war but what Walters is saying and with which other experts agree, is that these are the signs that have occurred in many countries around the world that have experienced civil war. America is in need of another Great Awakening to come together, and it should be led by the evangelical communities of faith.  David writes in the Book of Psalms “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7) David was a warrior and a king.  His experience was such that he had to rely on chariots and horses in the course of battle.  But his ultimate security was his faith and his trust in God.  An unknown psalmist writes “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.  Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:16-18) These ancient, time-tested writings tell us to not rest on our own strength and capabilities but to hope and trust in the only One who can rescue us from death and famine.  I do not believe our great nation is in imminent danger of mass annihilation or starvation.  But perhaps we are further along a worse fate in the long run.  That is our collective faith has been shaded and obscured in such a fashion that any sense of a united nation seems hopeless.  Perhaps that is because our view of faith has become so shaded that we are fixing our gaze on the wrong object.  The psalmist says, “the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him”.  Perhaps that is the direction we should focus.  Where or who is God looking upon?  Is he looking upon us or our nation?  Or is He looking elsewhere?  I guess the answer is implicit in the answer to the question “who or what do we fear?” Do we fear loss of some perceived right more than walking in humility under God?  Do we seek individual victory or peace through humility to one another?  We need a fresh awakening in our faith collectively as a people of faith.  We need to be united in our faith to be able to lead our nation in its healing. What better example of unity can there be than the one that has the people of faith of this great nation agreeing to disagree on social issues for the sake of coming together. Let us agree to come together regarding these social and political issues by our faith in our God first, then we may begin to witness the start of a truly United States of America.