we've returned from our travels. as usual, we have been reminded that wherever we go people are very much the same. they may speak with different accents, may live in homes that are of a different type of construction, and may have mannerisms and expressions that are unfamiliar to us, but they have they same struggles to make sense of life, want the same things for themselves and their loved ones, have the same needs, and are in the most essential ways just like us. we saw only one genuinely angry person, a man who was filled with rage about what he seemed to believe was the desire of too many motorists on the four-lane highway to impede his progress, and he ranted about the stupidity of the drivers who surrounded him to everyone who would listen at the service station where we had stopped for gas. as soon as we could fill our tank, we left, hoping that we would not encounter this driver on the highway.
what i want to write about today, though, is not our experiences with people we encountered on our travels or the beauty of nature that we witnessed. instead, i write about a short trip i took with several family members to a nearby amusement park. one of those relatives was our great-nephew, a sweet young man of about 13 who attends a "christian" school. he sat between my wife and me in the middle row of seats in the van in which we rode, and we engaged him in conversation about school and his plans for the day at the park. he is a witty kid, with an off-kilter sense of humor, and a delight to be around. we were disturbed, though, when he began to talk disparagingly about public schools and those who attended them. we knew that he was repeating what he had been told at home and at his christian school. he told us how awful the public schools in the small community in which he lives were, though he had never set foot in one of them. he told us how dumb the students that attended those schools were, because students who transferred into his school from them were ignorant of many of the things that he was being taught. one such student, he went on, couldn't even tell time using an analog clock because public schools didn't bother to teach that skill.
as my wife and i talked later, we lamented the narrowness of his education and upbringing. he will most likely go through life believing that those outside his circle of evangelical christians are inferior to him and his kind. he will look on these "outsiders" with pity and condescension. he and his siblings will have only limited contact with people of other cultures and will experience little to none of the diversity that is our country at large. it will be easy for him to accept the philosophy of the make-america-great-again crowd and hope for a return to a u.s.a. that never existed where everyone was the same skin color and was a born-again christian. this gentle child won't hate those who are different from him, he'll simply pretend that they are not there, since he'll seldom see them in his closed world.
his mother has the same sweet disposition, loves her family and provides a secure environment for them in their home, while her husband goes out and earns a good living for them all. she listens primarily to "christian" music and watches "christian" movies and television. she delights in "christian" comediennes. even her ringtone is "christian." her oldest son attends a "christian" university, where, after twelve years in a "christian" school, he will be surround by students and teachers who are just like him. as he and his siblings marry and raise families of their own, they will probably perpetuate the myth of a "christian" america founded by devout founders that never existed except in the minds of people who think like them. maybe some glimpse of the outside world will break in and awaken one or more of them to what life is like outside their "christian" bubble, as it has with other children raised in this environment. one hopes that will be the case.
i want to dislike these evangelicals but they are kind, generous people. their hearts are not filled with hatred. they are not angry like the man we tried to keep away from on our trip. they don't want children who cross our borders to be kept in cages. they tolerate trump and trumpism because they believe it is better than the "socialist" alternative, but they don't wholeheartedly embrace it. they are just people like me, but they've closed their minds to the wider culture that surrounds them, isolating themselves from it by worshiping with, doing business with, attending school and cultural events with, and as much as possible only associating with people who look and think like them. in their view, they are the "real" america; the rest of us are an aberration. if we are white like them but not evangelical christians, we have been led astray by left-wing politicians and the media. if we are non-whites, we are not part of true american culture, unless we've separated ourselves from our ethnic identities and become like them except for the color of our skin.
their lifestlye and philosophy frighten me. polls tell us that their numbers are diminishing but for now their politics is ascendant. i fear that it is from their ranks that radical right-wing terrorists will emerge, as this us-against-them way of viewing society becomes more threatened. i worry that it will be too easy to go from tolerating the broader culture while maintaining their isolationism to attacking those they now disdain and pity, fearing that the rest of us are a threat to their way of life. they are part of the "they're coming to take our guns" movement, the "they're going to send christians to concentration camps" movement, the "it's ok to say merry christmas again" movement. theirs is a way of viewing themselves as victims who are being forced to live with same-sex marriage, women's rights, and a diverse society that the see as violating their religious freedom to discriminate against and control these "others" that are not true u.s. citizens like them.
may we never give in to this way of thinking. may we learn to love those who think in this way without endorsing their ideas. may we promote the multiculturalism and diversity that is america, the america that the declaration of independence envisions. may all of us, whether we live in this country or elsewhere, see the basic sameness of us all and have compassion for one another as we struggle together along the path. shalom.
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