Partisanship

Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice (Proverbs 13:10).

Our country is getting more and more polarized. On one side you have people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly, while on the other you have names like Al Franken, Rosie O’Donnell, Bill Maher and Michael Moore. Are these people interested in dialogue and working together to find solutions? Hardly. Their energy is spent on criticizing everyone who doesn’t agree with them. Each group would like you to believe that they have all the answers, and that the opposition is completely and utterly wrong on each and every issue.

I frequently get emails forwarded to me that promote this kind of thinking. Some make fun of career politicians, while others make fun of political activists. Some criticize the policies of our government, while others criticize efforts to change our nation’s foreign and domestic priorities. In every case, one side is portrayed as patriotic while the other is out to weaken us or take away our freedoms. The author of the email takes great care to build his or her case, while completely ignoring any valid points raised by the other side.

For the Christian, two things come into play. The first is this: how do the positions of each side square up with God’s will as revealed in the Bible? What dies Scripture say about the conditions under which you can end another person’s life? What is God’s design for marriage and sexual relationships? What does God want us to spend our money on? How does He want us to use our time? Usually, the issues that polarize America are moral issues. And the only one who can give you the right answer is the only person who is without sin—Jesus, the Son of God.

But sometimes the best choice for public policy is unclear—no matter which way you look, no path forward looks better than another. That’s the effect of sin—it often blinds us to seeing the right way to go. At such times, stubborn partisanship serves no one—when there is no good answer, then we all need to stop bickering and start cooperating, sharing ideas and using the skills God has given us to create a plan and see if it works. If we can set aside pride and humbly admit that none of us has all the answers, then we can try things—and if we fail, we can admit that we got it wrong and try something else.