The Gospel and Political Tribalism

Keep The Focus of the Church Where It Belongs

Albert Einstein once said, “Before God, we are all equally wise — and equally foolish.” There’s a lot of truth to that and my cynical side says especially the foolish part. But I’m thankful that Einstein isn’t the only one who has something to say about God today. The apostle Peter has something to say about God as well, namely that before God we are all equals.

Well, Peter doesn’t use those precise words. Peter actually says, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another.”¹ Simply put, Peter realizes there isn’t any person or group whose loved by God more than others. But there’s something about what Peter said, his verbiage. He says, “I really am learning…” as though he’s just figuring this out. Will Willimon calls this “a stunning confession by Peter.”²

If you’re familiar with the story, which you can read here, Peter still held an exclusive view regarding Judaism and Israel. So there wasn’t fellowship with Gentiles and other non-Jewish people and no expectation that they could share in the gospel that was proclaimed to the Israelites in Jerusalem at the Pentecost festival (Acts 2). However, God spoke to Peter in a vision telling him that he should never regard as unclean and impure what God accepts as clean in pure (Acts 10:15, 28). So when Peter is summoned to the home of Cornelius and his household, he proclaims the gospel message to them, and upon witnessing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on everyone, Peter directs that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:44ff).

One aspect of this story is the challenge it issues toward the tribalistic mentalities we are often prone to. Like Peter, when we are confronted with the gospel then we realize that practices of exclusion that refuse to welcome others are wrong.³ So we seek to cultivate spaces of openness, hospitality, and love for all people, even when we perceive that there might be some fundamental disagreements with such people.

The opposite of the practices of exclusion is inclusive practices of embrace. I realize that the word inclusive is a loaded term in our culture today but the way I’m using the term doesn’t require us to agree or approve of everything about another person or group. In fact, if inclusion requires agreement and approval as a prerequisite, then we might as well quit because we will always have disagreements and objections. So we are learning to embrace others, without partiality, just as God embraces others and ourselves too.

Or are we?

There are many angles that we could explore but one that I wish to mention is what I perceive to be the growing political tribalism. By that, I mean people aligning themselves with other people who share their political views and barricading themselves from people who share different political views.⁴ I bring this issue up only because the other day I spent some time listening to some college students who love Jesus and are trying to follow him but feel somewhat alienated from the church because the churches of their youth cultivated a culture that was, in part, centered around partisan politics.

The students I was listening to were describing how the pastors and other leaders of their churches readily expressed certain political talking points but felt that they could not express any dissent. This is unfortunate and something I consider to be a failure because as believers, we are called to unity around the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than any exclusivity around partisan politics. But I sense that this trend toward political tribalism is only increasing in America and that is cause for concern.

To be clear, the rise in political tribalism within local churches happens on both sides of the fence. I know churches where any tip of the hat towards a conservative politic would be shunned, just as I know of churches where any tip of the hat towards liberal politics would be shunned. Either way, this is wrong and is just one reason, perhaps a big reason, why Christianity is declining in America. The gospel of Jesus Christ, which we so gleefully celebrated this past Easter Sunday, calls us to embrace others regardless of our differences. So it would be a shame for any church to implicitly and unintentionally convey a message that anyone who votes for __________ is unwelcome.

One of the students asked me how I handle politics and elections in the church I serve with. My response was that first and foremost, I neither tell anyone whether they should vote or who they should vote for nor do I tell people what issues they should support or oppose. If people are going to vote, I’ll trust them to make their own informed decisions even if it’s a decision I might personally disagree with. Second, because I believe that the confession of Jesus is Lord means that the gospel must confront all matters of life, even matters that become political issues, I try my best to speak from the perspective of the gospel rather than any partisan politic. Lastly, I really try to keep the church I served focused on and centered on the gospel. There are plenty of spaces within the American society that is saturated with politics but the church is the one place where attention is given to the gospel and I’m not giving that away to partisan politics.

My hope, as we move on from Easter toward Pentecost Sunday, is that we can renew our focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Not only is it the good news but it’s a compelling truth that many people are willing to consider but won’t if we require that they align with a certain partisan politic in order to find acceptance among our church. Our churches will surely fade away if our congregational culture embraces political tribalism. Don’t. Instead, keep the focus where it belongs which is on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God!

1. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2. William H. Willimon, Acts, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988, 97.

3. Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996, 68, “I reject exclusion because the prophets, evangelists, and apostles tell me that this is a wrong way to treat human beings, any human being, anywhere, and I am persuaded to have good reasons to believe them.”

4. John Burnett, “Americans are fleeing to places where political views match their own,” NPR, February 18, 2022, “America is growing more geographically polarized — red ZIP codes are getting redder and blue ZIP codes are becoming bluer. People appear to be sorting.”