Us and Them, and After All, We're Only Ordinary Men

It should be clear by now that a major driving force behind this blog is to point out the dangers inherent in faith-based, irrational thought. We've already covered cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias in depth. Today I'd like to talk about the third major issue that plagues people of faith, self-identification.

Self-identification is the idea that all people naturally associate themselves into larger groups as a means of establishing their own identities. We all have cultural, societal, political, and sexual groups with which we identify that make up the core of who we are. Unfortunately, for reasons I'll spell out below, most of us also have religious associations that form a portion of our identities. I feel it's vital to understand self-identification and why it can be a dangerous thing.

This process has at its root the original need for a socially organized species (us), to be able to distinguish between those who belonged to our group (family or tribe), and those who did not. This was vital, as being able to make those distinctions allowed our ancestors to identify potential threats as well as competition for food and mates. We needed a capacity to establish "us" and "them." The natural outgrowth of this is that the "them" group must be associated with fear as a means of preserving the "us" group. Were our ancestors unwary of strangers, they would have had a much higher chance of being destroyed or assimilated. Of course, the lack of a need for this ability in the modern world has yet to be rectified in our genes.

As a result, we see the outgrowth of this capability in unusual, and often detrimental, ways. The root of racism, when you get down to it, is the ability of the human brain to determine that another person is different. "They" are not "us" and are so to be treated with caution. When this natural instinct is not tempered by reason and experience, it can become hatred. Xenophobia is the exact same impulse with appearance replaced by geography. Continuing to more and more abstract concepts, you see the same difficulties between ages, genders, political parties, philosophies of all sorts, and especially religions.

Once the "us and them" mentality takes over any disputable area, we run into a major problem. That is, it is next to impossible to respect someone with whom you disagree to the level that you respect yourself. It's simple enough: if you think you're right, anyone who disagrees with you must be wrong. If they're wrong, then they must be inferior in some way. To use a rather obvious illustration, we need only look at politics. The majority of people simply identify themselves as part of a larger group. Most people choose a side like, "I'm a Republican," or, "I'm a Democrat," rather than working through all of the issues that those labels actually imply. As a result, the "other" side is simply wrong. This is why there is so little actual political discourse (anywhere, anytime -- I'm not trying to make a political point here) and so much mud-flinging. What is lost is the idea that we are all, regardless of party affiliation, worthy of the same respect and consideration.

But in politics there is at least some reasonable debate. There are those who are willing to consider other viewpoints, and there exists a framework in which to debate them. I can pick up a copy of The Wealth of Nations or The Communist Manifesto, as well as hundreds of other works of analysis on them. Because of this, there is at least a significant portion of those with political views who are willing to have them challenged, and who accept that their position is not sacrosanct. These people don't self-identify strongly enough to discredit others out of hand.

Now consider faith. When you get down to it, faith is what you believe because you believe it. It has no rational underpinnings, and therefore debate really isn't possible. Because faith is never challenged, it becomes a pillar of identity, and self-identification takes a firm hold. It is impossible to accept that another faith might be "correct" if you have already chosen one. The notion of "us" that follows includes only those who share that faith, and everyone else gets lumped into "them."

Do you see the danger in this? Faith creates a walled garden from which everyone who disagrees is excluded. And because it tells you that you are right, and more importantly righteous, because of this belief, you will never see those outside as equals. Some faiths teach pity for the unsaved, others hatred, but it all amounts to the same thing. The "us" group is better for their faith, and the "them" group is worse.

How much are you willing to miss by secluding yourself inside a comfortable faith? What other experiences, new friends, and fresh ideas are worth discounting? It is comfortable to seclude yourself in an "us," but we're all "us," and faith just drives us apart.

Be Well,
Chris.

I realize that this is another song lyric post, but it just seemed too appropriate not to use. If you're unfamiliar with Us and Them by Pink Floyd, it's a truly wonderful song, and makes the point of this post rather nicely. Empathy and the shared experience is a recurring theme throughout Floyd's middle years, and even today is a great reminder that, "we're only ordinary men."