Unless you have been living in a cave for the last few years, you have probably noticed how easy it has become for one group of people to categorize another group. This happens in the political arena, where we are either a Republican or a Democrat (as well as a host of lesser known parties). It happens with co-workers at the office, and the different social classes as well. Maybe you consider yourself upper class, middle class, or some version of both. And as you might suspect, this proclivity to categorize people one way or the other applies in a religious context as well.
There is a term in sociology known as the "Other." Simply put, it means to classify someone or some group as different from ourselves, or from the rest of society. This process of othering can allow us to assign blame to outsiders, thus relieving the burden of guilt or shame from our own psyche. Watch any election from any generation and you will see this happening (it just managed to happen on a larger scale recently in 2020). This is often followed by name calling and anger, thus enabling both sides to stop listening to each other whatsoever.
As many of you know, Dr. Seuss wrote a host of children's stories about social justice and the importance of recognizing cultural norms and values. One of his books entitled "The Sneetches and Other Stories" comes center stage in our discussion about the process of othering. A wonderful children's book, the story talks about a group of creatures called Sneetches. One faction has a star on their bellies while the other does not. As time goes by, the group of outsiders (the Others) begin to feel left out. Great pains are taken in order to possess a star on their stomachs just like the first group. Finally, in a master stroke of genius, Seuss writes that once the entire population finally has a star, the original group changes its mind and decides to have theirs removed! To be part of the "in crowd" it seems, you must now have a plain colored belly.
This story illustrates not only how arbitrary it can be to come into possession of this or that coveted flavor of idol worship, but also how harmful othering a class of people can be. I believe the concept here is that no matter what happens, when sects of people come together, social distinctions will take over and this odd process of separating ourselves from the other parts of the population will begin. After all, we can't all be equally important ... right? The bad fruit of this kind of prejudice is self-explanatory. Under the umbrella of the Other it is easy for racism, spiritual pride, and even violence to take place.
If we look to see what the Bible has to say about the value of a human being, however, we find a very different narrative. Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them."
Furthermore, the apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." It would appear from a Biblical perspective then, categorizing groups of people into convenient containers marked 'villians' or 'heroes' might be more difficult than first glance. It's too easy, and honestly, kind of a cop out. Quite often, the closer you get to the Other the more you find that you have things in common. If God loves those other people, so should we.
As I've stated in the past, this doesn't mean that the Christian must affirm any and all belief systems as equal. We can still hold to the tenants of the Bible and call out sin, but I think it means we cannot do so in a vacuum. Painting any group of people with one, broad brush is too simple. Real Christianity is messy, and it involves wrestling with ideas and Scripture in a more productive and loving way.
We are social creatures at our core; we need each other. In this tumultuous and often anxiety driven world, fear or pride can sneak in. When this happens, the result can be catastrophic - a kind of desperate, lashing out will occur. No more room for patience and compassion, love or resilience. Just hate-speech by way of categorization and Othering.
We remember here, the famous prayer of the Pharisee recorded for us in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus relates an example of how not to go through life. Luke 18:11 says, "The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you, God, that I am not like other people -- cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!'"
Those sinners ... the Others. We must be very careful in our faith walk to make certain that we don't fall into the trap of spiritual pride by assigning people to marginalized groups like the Pharisees. That little, evil voice that rears it's ugly head from time to time and whispers to us that we might be just a little bit better than so-and-so. Jesus warns us against this type of thinking, and so does Paul in his epistles.
I want to recount one more story here. It was told to me as part of a ministry class I took years ago, and the teacher used it to make an excellent point about othering. It begins in a large gymnasium at a rec center during a combined religious summer church camp. A hundred kids were ushered into the gym for the education portion of the program. Once everyone took their seats, several of the camp leaders began moving large curtain partitions and sliding them across the room to form separate sections. In effect, they now had a dividing wall separating the Lutherans from the Methodists from the Baptists. Depending on which part of the gym you were in, the different belief systems considered you the Other (or at least the adult leaders did).
My teacher then recounted how much he simply wanted to see his friends over in that other section of the gym, but he wasn't allowed. There wasn't a dry eye in our ministry class that day - we all got the point of the story. Indeed, it was a man-made vale, separating one flavor of Christianity from the next.
I suppose the lesson is this: make an intentional attempt to view people you disagree with as human beings, no less destined for God's eternal house than you are. We get lost sometimes along way in this confusing world, slipping in and out of the lure to categorize and classify groups. It feels easier that way, less anxious to slide over a partitioned curtain. But if we do that without regard for the image of God, then we are stripping the star from one Sneetch's belly, and placing it on our own. It's an artificial form of separation and it is so often an arbitrary act, based more on fear than on love.
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