Bullseye! This article hit the mark! Years ago I had a conversation with a co-worker. She lamented the evil of Hitler. To which I said, "the evil within him is also within me. My situation and choices were different but there was potential for evil within me."
She was shocked, "no, you are a good person!" She argued with me for several minutes. That was the moment I knew clearly I lived in a world of "us verses them" and it didn't matter what religious beliefs were espoused.
Yes. Watch any "true believer" on any of our current religio-cultural divides argue against the fundamental humanity of people on "the other side".
I see it most easily on the religious right, because that's the hothouse I was born into. Deconstruction/reconstruction dropped my formerly-unquestioned socially-"conservative" (they aren't really even meaningfully conservative anymore) ideals, because they conflict with my Christian faith. Which created the immediate risk of them being immediately replaced by unquestioning belief in socialist ideals - which also often conflict with my faith.
You've clarified for me that I must always watch with suspicion anything that hints at an excuse for dehumanizing anyone - because that's false. That person is as much an image-bearer as me, so I am innately capable of doing any evil I see in them.
Bullseye! This article hit the mark! Years ago I had a conversation with a co-worker. She lamented the evil of Hitler. To which I said, "the evil within him is also within me. My situation and choices were different but there was potential for evil within me."
She was shocked, "no, you are a good person!" She argued with me for several minutes. That was the moment I knew clearly I lived in a world of "us verses them" and it didn't matter what religious beliefs were espoused.
Yes. Watch any "true believer" on any of our current religio-cultural divides argue against the fundamental humanity of people on "the other side".
I see it most easily on the religious right, because that's the hothouse I was born into. Deconstruction/reconstruction dropped my formerly-unquestioned socially-"conservative" (they aren't really even meaningfully conservative anymore) ideals, because they conflict with my Christian faith. Which created the immediate risk of them being immediately replaced by unquestioning belief in socialist ideals - which also often conflict with my faith.
You've clarified for me that I must always watch with suspicion anything that hints at an excuse for dehumanizing anyone - because that's false. That person is as much an image-bearer as me, so I am innately capable of doing any evil I see in them.