Recent polling has found that a majority of Trump voters (52%) and a significant number of Biden voters (41%) support breaking up the country. Has our animosity and disgust for each other made reconciliation impossible? Are we heading toward a national divorce? Skye Jethani and David French discuss his recent articles about the rise of malice in our political divisions and within the church.
Why have so many evangelicals embraced anger as a virtue, and how has our pragmatic theology contributed to the problem? Then, they debate the role of social media in the breakdown of national unity and the recent leak of the “Facebook Papers.” French is reluctant to blame social media companies for what is ultimately a problem with human hearts, while Skye says the tech giants must take more responsibility for the damage their platforms are inflicting.
Malice and anger in political division [00:28]
Malice and anger in the church [20:34]
Social media and the “Facebook Papers”[38:11]
If we wonder why our culture and politics says that “the end justifies the means”, we can look right to the evangelical message that everlasting life in heaven is the only goal. Nothing else matters - heck your actual works in the world don’t matter as long as you’ve uttered the sinner’s prayer.
I’m not done listening yet. The discussion about dividing the US makes me think of the trauma caused by Partition in India.
Started this while carrying Fish and Chips home from my local chippy and humming it's French fry day to myself. Good day I appreciate French's insistence on understanding all the problems of the modern world as having precedent, but I think he really underappreciates the formative nature of social media. It's the liturgies of life that social media and smart phones have created that concern me far more than the content they carry.
I would be careful about dismissing the power of the algorithm.
Facebook knows how dangerous their algorithm is, their internal documents show they know that to be an issue. They continue to use those algorithms because using them is more profitable.
Oh, and, our current social divisions are being driven by people who don’t believe in the fundamental equality of all humans. This is not an “empirical event.” It is a deliberate effort by identifiable actors.
A question posed in this episode several times, and generally in the the collective discussion about our extreme polarization, is why shouldn't the opposing political sides in the country divorce. From a Christian perspective, where allegiance is to God above country, either side would still be responsible to preach the gospel as they faithfully discern it to those who differ in discernment.
This responsibility is not absolved one whit by divorcing from the other side -- we are still responsible in the same manner and to the same degree as if we were still joined together. Separation does not change our responsibility to work within the whole world according to the gospel; separation does not equate to washing our hand…