A Plea for Peace in Trump Trial Extremes
The phenomena of tribalism and confirmation bias, mutual radicalization and extremity shift are on full display in the Trump trial saga. Can Christians offer a different example to counter the spiral?
While I typically avoid political drama, the Trump conviction provides a clear illustration of several important concepts that help explain the rapidly changing US context. The maelstrom on social media from detractors and supporters of the former President illustrate all kinds of sociological and psychological phenomena from group dynamics to identity theory, tribal ‘moral matrices’ and also mutual radicalization and extremity shift. I’ll briefly give examples of 4 of these dynamics here combining into a hostile cocktail that is also at play within the church.
While the drama isn’t surprising in the broader society, I do find disheartening the echo and mimic of these dynamics in the church. There are unfortunately few examples on display of non-sectarian allegiance to Jesus’ ideals and love of enemy and neighbor. Now, these counter-cultural demonstrations of Kingdom ethics are certainly happening (at least at my church for example) but they are not getting ‘airtime’ vs. the very loud voices in the public sphere. Christians who spend much time consuming news, social media and outrage-entrepreneurs will have a skewed perspective, these are not majority voices, they are just really loud and obnoxious.
Not only do the powers, theories and political parties as ideas need counteracting, but their postures, modes of being and propagating need to be resisted.
We are all social creatures with needs for belonging: Christians are no exception and are influenced by these social dynamics. Recognizing this we must identify the powers at play vying for our allegiance: the “reductive heresies, taking elements of biblical truth and cutting them off from other complementary truths, distorting and falsifying them in the process1.” American Republican or Democratic political party platforms, just like classic liberalism or Marxism or many other social theories are distorted gospels that insert their own answers and warp the biblical narrative. Christopher Watkin talks about how these various theories (and many others) create faulty versions of the 4 main biblical themes: “creation: what exists; fall: what is wrong with the world; redemption: how it can be fixed; and consummation: where it is all leading.”
Not only do the powers, theories and political parties as ideas need counteracting, but their postures, modes of being and propagating need to be resisted. Most of the aforementioned political and social world-views necessitate behaviors and attitudes of exclusion, domination, survival of the fittest, hostility and violence. Proponents on the extremes (and often in leadership) frequently deny the imago Dei of other human beings, demonizing them, slur forth hate-filled speech towards enemies and proclaim justice can only be wrought by revenge, violence and the sword. These are off-limits to Christians.
There are many assets and theological resources to draw upon that counteract these forces. Refreshing these and living into them can, I think, even influence the broader society towards peace as the church did in the Roman era, and as the church has in the Levantine conflict. There are some unique assets and teachings in Christianity that counter-weight the pull of powerful, hostile social dynamics and gently question political parties, theories and movements. Let me explain a few dynamics at play as these compete for allegiances and some Christian theological and moral assets for navigating them.
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Phil 4:8
Confirmation Bias and Tribal Activation- While I have stayed off the angry-X-bird thing (mostly) and other social channels within my Rule of Life limit (mostly), a very brief scroll netted perfect examples of these two dynamics. It indicated ‘double-down’ illustrations of confirmation bias and tribal ‘hive’ activation. Various versions of “see, he’s rotten!” or “the system is rigged” emanated from erstwhile armchair legal scholars, social influencers and pew-sitting Christians. It is perhaps sarcastic of me to question whether or not any of these folks pontificating on any side of the argument have studied the tenets of the case, heard the legal arguments or visited the courtroom. Reasonable, peace-oriented, nuanced language seemed quite lacking. The dynamics at work here are like a drug-cocktail: we hunt for and believe evidence of what we want to be true while downplaying incongruous bits (confirmation bias) and we exchange individual thinking and band together tightly with our perceived tribe and lack differentiation between what the tribe/hive things and individual critical thinking. In this dynamic the pull is a desire for belonging and mutual defense against ‘them’ and we merge our perspective with the tribe’s moral matrix2. Thus everyone not in the tribe is a wrong-headed enemy (or even animal), everyone within is righteous (and human).
Negative partisanship and anger in general has been dramatically on the rise for the last number of years. Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt say:
“Americans now bear such animosity toward one another that it is almost as if many are holding up signs saying, ‘Please tell us something horrible about the other side, I’ll believe anything!’ Americans are now easily exploitable, and a large network of profit-driven media sites, political entrepreneurs and foreign intelligence agencies are taking advantage of this vulnerability.” (The Coddling of the American Mind, p.132)
On the left, various versions of ‘gotcha’ and ‘see how crazy the Republicans are that they are still devoted to this criminal’ are everywhere. Some employ tidy labels calling the opposing side ‘fascist’ to succinctly essentialize their targets. Some enterprising campaigners have already made “Trump is a Felon” bumper stickers, to humiliate and taunt.
Far-right representatives have long painted the US legal system as corrupt, even a ‘weapon’ of Democrats and a so called ‘deep state’ and are advocating for violence. Some are calling for outright ‘war’ while others for jailing political enemies or revenge via the legal system. “Time for Red State AGs and DAs to get busy” implying revenge wrote one official.
A recent survey indicates that 20% of white evangelicals are more likely to vote for Trump while 72% said it made no difference in regards to the recent convictions. The Trump campaign even raised millions of dollars on the heels of the conviction. These dynamics further illustrate our two dynamics… we as humans are looking for evidence to bolster our pre-decided positions on issues and we circle wagons when threat is perceived. Few, if any, actually consider evidence or look for ‘truth’ (sadly I feel the need to define this word as that which corresponds to reality). We want reality to correspond to our notions of right and wrong and our world-view. When these don’t line up, our brains have to resolve the dissonance through post-hoc explanations and theorizing or discrediting new evidence.
For Christians, primary allegiance is to Jesus and his Kingdom for which certain types of behaviors and standards are clear. Slander, contempt, anger, hostility and shaming are not within the scope of acceptable behaviors or attitudes. Romans 12:9 is just one example of an appeal to higher moral behavior: “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other… Bless those that persecute you, do not curse. (NLT)” Jesus also said “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ‘All these things’ refer to God’s provision of our needs, food clothing etc (and we can extrapolate belonging, safety etc.) that, if we trust, counter anxiety and striving. Simplistic as it is, these admonitions contrast distinctly with how many are behaving in this cultural moment.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, (open to reason) willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and (sincere) without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18 (ESV/NIV)
Extremity Shift and Mutual Radicalization - It is no surprise the those loyal to the former president have doubled down and are fiercely defending him, nor that those vehemently opposed are criticizing and celebrating the perceived victory in the court ruling. This is nothing really new. However, the dynamic of extremity shift predicts that any in-group will invariably shift towards the more extreme opinion of the perceived majority (even if slight). We see this dynamic in sports or mundane things but it is on full display in politics, as mutual radicalization processes escalate. In the US, the two sides are shifting further and further towards their extremes, with many even advocating now for hostility and violence. On the left, the exclusion, shaming and shouting-down of conservative voices at universities is rampant and on the right, calls to violence, retribution, and ‘taking-back’ control are now mainstream.
The troubling part about these combined dynamics is group members are likely to exhibit a preference towards riskier actions as time goes on and the perceived risk to each individual is distributed among the group members. So calling for war, violence, imprisonment, drastic measures, taunts, humiliation etc. is not as big of a deal because the perception is that a slight-majority of the identity group wants it, and if I follow, any personal risk will be absorbed by the group.
Some polls have indicated that significant percentages of surveyed Republicans and Democrats think war might be necessary to preserve democracy. This Notre Dame poll found “22 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of Republicans surveyed also agreed that the “true American way of life” is disappearing so fast that “we may have to use force to save it.” And “slightly more than half of Republicans (51.5 %), over a third of Democrats (35.1%) believe the United States is on the brink of a new civil war. While these numbers are shocking and very concerning they also don’t represent the majority and are not irreversible.
For Christians, now is the time to draw upon and contemplate the historical teachings of Jesus on violence and enemies, neighbors and government. Embedded in the sermon on the mount is a mandate for non-violence, love of God, love of enemies, love of neighbors and respect for authorities. There are directives towards self-sacrifice and service towards others regardless of their class or status. And a compelling vision is cast for a particular flavor of community and relationships that are to be marked by radical generosity, inter-dependance and care for the most vulnerable. Acts 2 gives us a beautiful picture of how the earliest church carried this out in a sectarian, militaristic, pagan society as a very small minority.
Another example of this historically is the early church unanimity in the first 3 centuries in eschewing violence of any kind. No killing period… from the aborting of babies to exposing infants to combat with enemies. They did not think attending the gladiatorial games nor combat roles in military service were moral. There is stunning unanimity on early church teaching on this and it is a historical example of how the church was a drastic contrast in Roman society where war, military might, rank, class and hostility were cultural norms.
So, how can the church be a ‘city on a hill,’ leavening the extreme dough of our culture today? How can the church be ‘salt’ flavoring relationships and even social media with moderation, kingdom thinking and grace? How can we resist these four compelling dynamics of confirmation bias, tribalism, mutual radicalization and extremity shift?
I’m pretty sure its not through sharing over-simplistic memes, quotes or pictures of shaming, or calls for violence and war. And, I’m pretty sure its not through bumper stickers and yard signs or hostile protests. Joining that crowd is a dangerous gamble, that will likely shift us more towards the extreme. As a start, recognizing our own biases and resisting the influence of our own earthly ‘tribe’ while remembering that we are called to the higher plane of priesthood might be a start. We are also told that our primary citizenship is ‘above’, it must come ahead of political membership. Christians are also primarily awaiting Jesus’ return as King, not placing hope in any earthly election (Phil 3:20).
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. I Peter 2:9
We all need to resist these powerful social dynamics and the pulls of mutual radicalization, extremity shift, confirmation bias and tribalism through spiritual discipline, cultivation of godly loves and desires (thank you, Augustine) and through much much patience and prayer. Perhaps also, we need to take a break from the radicalization engine of social media.
There are diverse theological and practical writings in the scripture giving guideposts to help us cultivate godly community and discern what is righteous, just and equitable. Romans 12, Matthew 5 and the rest of Jesus’ famous sermon and James’s description of wisdom from above in James 3 are just the beginning of a treasure trove of wisdom Christians have to draw upon in these challenging times. A review of how historic Christian communities bore witness in challenging cultural and geo-political circumstances also helps stimulate our imagination.
May the church live into its calling and be a city of refuge, up on a hill, casting light, providing tasty yeasty bread and salty food.
Watkin, Christopher. “Christianity and Critical Race Theory.” Cambridge Papers (blog), July 22, 2022. https://www.cambridgepapers.org/christianity-and-critical-race-theory/.
Haidt, Jonathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Illustrated edition. New York: Pantheon, 2012. See chapter 10.