07.13.06
Posted in politics, culture at 8:31 pm by Brandon
Why, friends, do we insist on labeling ourselves? Why the rigid adherence to giving ourselves an identity? I mean, I’m one of the worst; I admit it. Religious, Liberal, Religious Right, conservative, baptist, conservative Christian, activist, pacifist, Dutch, Jew, bad, good, intellectual, anti-intellectual, realist, cynic. Let’s be honest, we’ve got a love affair with putting ourselves into boxes.
To be fair, it’s sometimes a matter of simplicity. I’ve identified, here, as a liberal so that people could easily determine whether or not they’d like to read on. But, the cold hard truth is that calling myself a liberal is mostly misleading. Sure, if you’re a conservative you assume we don’t agree on politics…but if you’re a liberal, you assume we do agree on politics. And, sometimes–even a lot of the time–we don’t agree on politics. That’s ok, really. Agreement isn’t some sacred golden calf, but why should I put myself into a box.
You may say, “what’s the big deal? Who cares if you’re in a box as long as you know what you believe? What’s the harm of being in a box of your own placing?”
I’ll tell you. The harm is that you begin to associate more with the box you’ve placed yourself into than you ought. You let your self attributed categories do your thinking for you. By labelling yourself, it’s quite simple to let those labels define you. If you’re not careful, you really cease to be yourself.
People that define themselves in their labels aren’t hard to pick out of a crowd. The “conservatives” will be spouting off “Bush-rhetoric”, and the Religious Left will be off in the corner waxing eloquent about how wonderful Barak Obama is…what a man of faith.
I have a hypothesis. It’s not supported yet, but one day it might be. It goes like this:
The powers and principalities of evil want us to label ourselves, because in doing so we become so caught up in the work of rhetoricalizing ourselves against the “evil-other-side” that we forget about the work of the Kingdom.
So, friends, here is my apology to you: I’m sorry for labelling myself a religious liberal. Will you please forgive me?
Frankly, I’m tired of being one.
I’m sick of caring how the latest bullshit from the “religious right” is “ruining the image of Christianity.” I’m tired of trying to defend Democrats who are sniveling, whiny, people panderers with more concern about getting re-elected than they have any real concern about the disenfranchised. I’m really just over hearing Jim Wallis prattle on about how poverty is a moral issue–rhetoric really aimed at deflating the religious right, and not at “making poverty history.” I’m even more tired of feeling like, because I’m a “liberal” I somehow need to respond to assholes like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, do we really even have to respond anymore–I mean, is anyone who really matters listening? I’m even tired of Barak Obama and his ilk of Democrats who feel like faith is a thing to be co-opted as an instrument by which morality MUST be legislated…as if the right is any less of a faithful position.
So, I hereby un-claim any political, religious, socio-economic, or any other activist labels. They’ll no longer do my thinking for me.
Sure, that leaves the blowhards on the religious right without an answer about their contention that there’s no such thing as a progressive Christian. But, let’s be honest, who cares? Who cares if no one’s there to respond to the Brannon Howses of the world? Frankly, our response of, “Yes, there is such a thing as the religious left!!! Look we’re supposed to love the poor!!!! Jesus was a liberal!!!” is a tad sophomoric. It launches us into a bitter rhetorical battle in which the only certainty is that the Kingdom of God loses. As I reflect on this war between the right and left, I can’t help but think that old Uncle Screwtape must be ordering his victory fireworks. Powers and principalities of evil are, after all, notoriously good at the powers of distraction.
Whilst we argue and claim the moral highground–whatever our side–people continue to be ignored, hungry, hurting, and lost.
In closing, I just have to say that I really wonder sometimes, if we create the very culture-war we claim to fight. We claim to be Emergent, and fight with our elders or more conservatives. We claim to be liberal and fight with the right. We claim to be capitalist and fight with the socialists.
What if we didn’t claim to be anything? What if we just loved God and our neighbor as ourselves? It seems to me we’d rather run out of people to fight with. What a pity.
Tags: Labels, Progressive Christian
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Posted in politics, culture at 8:31 pm by Brandon
Why, friends, do we insist on labeling ourselves? Why the rigid adherence to giving ourselves an identity? I mean, I’m one of the worst; I admit it. Religious, Liberal, Religious Right, conservative, baptist, conservative Christian, activist, pacifist, Dutch, Jew, bad, good, intellectual, anti-intellectual, realist, cynic. Let’s be honest, we’ve got a love affair with putting ourselves into boxes.
To be fair, it’s sometimes a matter of simplicity. I’ve identified, here, as a liberal so that people could easily determine whether or not they’d like to read on. But, the cold hard truth is that calling myself a liberal is mostly misleading. Sure, if you’re a conservative you assume we don’t agree on politics…but if you’re a liberal, you assume we do agree on politics. And, sometimes–even a lot of the time–we don’t agree on politics. That’s ok, really. Agreement isn’t some sacred golden calf, but why should I put myself into a box.
You may say, “what’s the big deal? Who cares if you’re in a box as long as you know what you believe? What’s the harm of being in a box of your own placing?”
I’ll tell you. The harm is that you begin to associate more with the box you’ve placed yourself into than you ought. You let your self attributed categories do your thinking for you. By labelling yourself, it’s quite simple to let those labels define you. If you’re not careful, you really cease to be yourself.
People that define themselves in their labels aren’t hard to pick out of a crowd. The “conservatives” will be spouting off “Bush-rhetoric”, and the Religious Left will be off in the corner waxing eloquent about how wonderful Barak Obama is…what a man of faith.
I have a hypothesis. It’s not supported yet, but one day it might be. It goes like this:
The powers and principalities of evil want us to label ourselves, because in doing so we become so caught up in the work of rhetoricalizing ourselves against the “evil-other-side” that we forget about the work of the Kingdom.
So, friends, here is my apology to you: I’m sorry for labelling myself a religious liberal. Will you please forgive me?
Frankly, I’m tired of being one.
I’m sick of caring how the latest bullshit from the “religious right” is “ruining the image of Christianity.” I’m tired of trying to defend Democrats who are sniveling, whiny, people panderers with more concern about getting re-elected than they have any real concern about the disenfranchised. I’m really just over hearing Jim Wallis prattle on about how poverty is a moral issue–rhetoric really aimed at deflating the religious right, and not at “making poverty history.” I’m even more tired of feeling like, because I’m a “liberal” I somehow need to respond to assholes like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, do we really even have to respond anymore–I mean, is anyone who really matters listening? I’m even tired of Barak Obama and his ilk of Democrats who feel like faith is a thing to be co-opted as an instrument by which morality MUST be legislated…as if the right is any less of a faithful position.
So, I hereby un-claim any political, religious, socio-economic, or any other activist labels. They’ll no longer do my thinking for me.
Sure, that leaves the blowhards on the religious right without an answer about their contention that there’s no such thing as a progressive Christian. But, let’s be honest, who cares? Who cares if no one’s there to respond to the Brannon Howses of the world? Frankly, our response of, “Yes, there is such a thing as the religious left!!! Look we’re supposed to love the poor!!!! Jesus was a liberal!!!” is a tad sophomoric. It launches us into a bitter rhetorical battle in which the only certainty is that the Kingdom of God loses. As I reflect on this war between the right and left, I can’t help but think that old Uncle Screwtape must be ordering his victory fireworks. Powers and principalities of evil are, after all, notoriously good at the powers of distraction.
Whilst we argue and claim the moral highground–whatever our side–people continue to be ignored, hungry, hurting, and lost.
In closing, I just have to say that I really wonder sometimes, if we create the very culture-war we claim to fight. We claim to be Emergent, and fight with our elders or more conservatives. We claim to be liberal and fight with the right. We claim to be capitalist and fight with the socialists.
What if we didn’t claim to be anything? What if we just loved God and our neighbor as ourselves? It seems to me we’d rather run out of people to fight with. What a pity.
Tags: Labels, Progressive Christian
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Trackback URL »
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christolles! said,
July 14, 2006 at 12:14 am
i came to this same realization the other day, when, to a new friend i had decided was “conservative”, i introduced myself as a “flaming liberal”.
in retrospect, the only reason i did it was to feel smugly self-satisfied in how i “knew” he would mis-judge me (according to my non-liberal liberalism, perhaps somewhat similar to badchristian’s). the inaccuracy of the label was the real reason i relished it.
but there again ive used it in my parenthetical! ahhhh!
Steve J said,
July 14, 2006 at 8:06 am
It seems to me that people will fight with people labels or not.
Where I grew up people used to say I talked funny because I was not from round here and as a result was branded an outsider (we’d moved about 3 km from where I was born) as I got older the “them versus us” argument never went away. It’s in the workplace, its how you choose your friends, it’s in your church…it never goes away.
When I think about this stuff I get depressed for the state of humanity. I end up thinking we must be doomed if we still can’t live side by side with each other by now. I honestly don’t know why God doesn’t feel the same way. That’s a phenomenal amount of grace not to give up on us.
Recovering said,
July 14, 2006 at 8:31 am
I don’t disagree with you, Brandon. However, if we don’t label ourselves or others, doesn’t it get hard to dialogue about generally or specifically about anything? It seems like lables are almost more useful for effective communication then they are for actually defining people individually. For example:
Do I now have to say, “those people who generally agree with so-and-so on most issues (but not all) are saying right now - except for a large number of them who, on this particular issue, don’t agree - are calling for such-and-such, although I don’t want to say all of them want the exact same thing. Some might want a variation such as, but not limited to, ________?”
It seems easier to say, “most liberals want unversal healthcare while most conservatives want a more free-market approach centered around HSAs.”
Know what I mean?
wildwest said,
July 14, 2006 at 8:53 am
I don’t think so.
Just be true to yourself and what you believe and then stand up for the truth. Ava Lowery is only 15 years old, and she does it very well. She calls herself a “true Christian,” then simply stands up for truth.
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/06/07/int06025.html
timmer k. said,
July 14, 2006 at 9:15 am
Interesting thoughts, Brandon. I have to ask–was this whole issue at the root of your blogging hiatus? I mean, was part of taking that break deciding what a blog without those kind of labels, defenses and ground-grabbing would look like? Just curious. BTW, no apologies necessary. Blogging isn’t *quite* real life. I think we need to grant people a lot of grace in cyberspace…jeez, that sounds like a Christian bumper sticker. I digress.
Personally, I like the idea of trying to keep an air of positivity. You can always find people who are acting like complete idiots in Christ’s name, but it seems more fruitful to find people who are doing well and bragging on them. I suppose it’s even better to just live out the kingdom–who couldn’t stand an improvement on that front?
Anyhoo…I am excited to see the continual evolution of this blog. You are one of the best writers that I read in cyberspace. And your entry about going to the swankiest mall in Michigan still makes me giggle like a school girl every time I think about it.
Joe Pritchett said,
July 14, 2006 at 10:18 am
After years of being a proud conservative, (and still leaning more conservative in many regards) I have come to realize that I just want to follow Jesus and try to be like him. I’m not sure that makes me a true Christian, but maybe a more honest one. Too bad it took me over 40 years to come to my senses.
Scott said,
July 14, 2006 at 10:55 am
Do I now have to say, “those people who generally agree with so-and-so on most issues (but not all) are saying right now - except for a large number of them who, on this particular issue, don’t agree - are calling for such-and-such, although I don’t want to say all of them want the exact same thing. Some might want a variation such as, but not limited to, ________?”
No, instead you could just deal with individuals. I think that’s Brandon’s point. Generalizing might be easier, as you say, but just throwing around labels and bashing generalized portions of the population is not going to foster any relationships with people who think differently than you.
Saying things like “All the religious right thinks that poor people are less than them and they don’t think we should help them,” might be easier, but truthfully you’ll never find a real person that actually thinks like the generalization that you made.
Dwayne'sWorld said,
July 14, 2006 at 11:07 am
Self-imposed pigeonholes…
Brandon at a badchristian blog has written an interesting post on identities. He writes about boxes and labels being used as a shortcut for thinking. It’s a common enough thought, but he has what I found to be an intersesting twist on it. ItR…
Anias Nin said,
July 14, 2006 at 11:46 am
I’ve been reading your blog for a little while and I feel so different from you, but you are interesting to me. You’re so into politics and I’m so…not.
Anyway, regarding the self-labeling thing: Don’t you think that labels tend to be fluid things? I mean, if we really are seeking to follow Christ and, indeed, be Christlike, we change constantly. Well, not always “constantly”. I know I’ve been stuck in several ruts in my life. What I guess I mean is: Don’t you think that the closer we get to Christ and the more we know Him, the more our self-labeling will change because isn’t it one of Christ’s goals to get us to see ourselves the way He sees us? I know for myself, my thoughts about myself have changed a lot over the years.
I don’t know if I’m being very clear here. I haven’t yet made it through my first cup of coffee ‘o the day, but that’s what I was thinking while I was reading your post.
Maria said,
July 14, 2006 at 2:23 pm
It’s curious that I find your post today. I was reading the story of Nicodemus last night with some friends. A bible study if you will. One thing was seemingly clear (as clear as anything in the Bible) in our reading - Jesus saw Nicodemus trying to fit him (Jesus) into a box and blew the thing wide open.
I for one hate boxes/labels. I think they’re an easy thing to hide behind. If I have you labelled I don’t really have to get to know you. I have what I think of you and that’s that. And I would argue that living the way of Jesus is abandoning labels and boxes and pursuing love. Call me a liberal if you insist on it…that’s just what I think.
wildwest said,
July 14, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Then again, “Christian” is a label. I know most of you don’t have *this* problem in your churches, but the current ministers and many members of Fountain Street Church are too politically correct to want to use even that label. That’s just childish.
Yes, I’m a “Christian.” People may read into even that label things about me that aren’t there. That’s their loss. My job is to love and accept and forgive myself and everyone else. That is the way of Jesus, is it not? Here is an another example of what it means to be a Christian.
Real Christians Don’t Gay Bash
by the Rev. Jim Rigby
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0714-22.htm
kairos blog said,
July 17, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I belong to Apollos! I belong to Paul……
Seems to me that the badchristian has something important to say about the way we label one another, and ourselves. Meanwhile, dwight has some thoughts about being labeled contextual. Maybe some of the problem is how these terms develop so…
Joe said,
July 17, 2006 at 5:56 pm
It’s funny you blogged about this because I was discussing basically the same thing with my friend today. Why are we sitting around talking about how we’re more enlightened than other people but still living the same routine rat-race lives every day, not helping anyone?
clint wells said,
July 17, 2006 at 11:13 pm
i don’t really have anything intelligent to say other than I’m a guy who really stuggles with everything your post talks about. The categorizing myself and then hating the categories and then reacting to the categories and then swinging like a fucking pendulum from right to left over and over and over again.
I guess I’m trying to figure out where Jesus is and I think, because he doesn’t tow a party line and explodes every category we have, he might be somewhere in the middle…or everywhere at once.
At any rate your post made me feel less insane…as this blog always does. I’m happy to link it at my blog and hope my readers come here as often as I do.
ding said,
July 19, 2006 at 10:31 pm
preach it!
i’m so glad you wrote this - i’ve been feeling similar things but i haven’t come close to articulating it the way you have. this resonated with me:
Jim said,
July 20, 2006 at 10:24 am
I don’t think bad christian is a bad label, although it may promise too much.
In my last email to my Mom, a right-wing conservative evangelical (a label she would proudly assert, although she might simplify it to “true christian”), I included a bumper sticker of my own: “Put the Christ back in Christianity.” This email was in response to one of those rabid “the liberals are destroying America” screeds from some christian hate foundation that she was forwarding to everyone in her address book.
My view is that the Christians are destroying Christianity.
At a certain point, I think you have to ask yourself, honestly: if there is a Holy Spirit in the church, then what’s up? How long can you keep apologizing (in the theological sense) for its evident absence? Thirty years ago Jacques Ellul published a somewhat tortured but fascinating book, “Hope in time of abandonment” — after excoriating every usual justification for the appalling humanity of the church, he recurs (as usual) to his French Barthian fideism.
For me, none of it is convincing anymore. So far as I can see, theology is mutual massage, nothing more.
Adam said,
July 20, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I’m not sure I even want to be labelled a Christian. I’m not sure what it means anymore to be one and I’m pretty sure the majority of people here don’t think I am one, but if I moved to NY or Seattle then I might be in the majority.
But I have a hunch the “us vs. them” thing is a product of the animal side of us being rational animals. (I know, I’m buying into evolutionary science. Oops, another label). There is something about setting yourself up against “them” whatever “them” is, that is vary “animal kingdom”. Alpha males fighting for control. Heards and colonies fighting for territory. Sneaking, hiding, ambushing, preying, its the base side of humanity. But yet it exists and I’m not sure if saying, “I’m done with it!” is really the answer. But since I don’t have a better one I have to say that your doing better than me.
One Thing I Know » Blog Archive » On the Use of Labels said,
July 21, 2006 at 9:05 pm
[…] forgive the long quote, but I found this recent post identities at Bad Christian interesting and thought-provoking: […]
Jacke said,
July 22, 2006 at 11:42 am
Applause.
abmo said,
August 3, 2006 at 3:14 am
If you give group a name, you have some that are “IN” and some who are “OUT” and then we can debate the crap out of each other on the internet on who God is most impressed with.
thanks for the blog
abmo
(South Africa)
UR4given said,
August 24, 2006 at 6:43 pm
I’ve been observing…and fighting…labels for over 40 years now. Having studied communications and marketing…it just seems easier for the world to deal in labels and metaphores when they cant explain or get their arms around their observations. Man has always been uncomfortable with what he cannot explain or define. Religions, and yes, even Christianity itself, have become manipulated group-grope for security and not feeling “alone”. Therefore , the ease of labeling ourselves and others, and fitting in with those who see the box as we see it.
Personally, i dont believe you can put God in a box anymore than you can the “self”. The two are tied together dont you think…if we were created…AND in Gods image? So, my pilgrimage in life has taken me from the super narrow box of super fundamentalist evangelical/ penttecostal background (yes, I have met Pat Robertson)…to a strange self concoction that many of you would probably call the “dangerous” box of humanistic Christianity. Try that one on for size. There are aspects of both those boxes (Christian and Humanist) that actually connect quite well if you give it a chance. i just havent found a “church” that represents that box…though there probably is one out there somewhere. And if I found it…would I be comfortable there?
The closest I came was finding a humanist Jewish synogogue in Bloomfield Hills Michigan. This “Rogue” Rabbi built quite a movement around combining humanistic reason with jewish traditional beliefs. I am not jewish but the woman in my life at that time was a secular jew (another interesting box:) ) and exploring this opportunity of “belonging”. While i was intrigued with the movement and the mission, I found it lacking since most of the movement was a “reaction” to traditional Judaism. While I think it OK that these people are looking for a place they can relate to in their own pilgrimages of life, I came away cold and not too motivated to start a church based on “Humanistic Christianity”. What would it accomplish? It would just compete with all other boxed religions or versions of Christianity.
So, for now I am comfortable going to the “Church of whats happening now”. In my daily walk of life, I find many souls who relate well with me. We talk, we love, we share the mysteries of life…sure we discuss all the boxes around us….the religious, political and societal ones. But…we are way outside the box of traditional church Christians in America…and breathing free to be there…