We have seen over the last few years, which “tribalism” has reared its head in politics, churches, businesses and the general environment.
1. Definition
Wikipedia:
Tribalism implies the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separates one member of a group from the members of another group. Based on strong relations of proximity and kinship, members of a “Tribe” tend to possess a strong feeling of identity. Objectively, for a customary tribal society to form there needs to be ongoing customary organization, enquiry and exchange. However, intense feelings of common identity can lead people to feel tribally connected.
Free Dictionary:
The state or fact of being organized in a “Tribe” or “Tribe’s.”
The behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one's own “Tribe” or social group.
Dictionary.com:
The customs and beliefs of tribal life and society.
Strong loyalty to one's own “Tribe”, party, or group
Cambridge Dictionary:
The state of existing as a “Tribe”, or a very strong feeling of loyalty to your “Tribe”
A very strong feeling of loyalty to a political or social group, so that you support them whatever they do.
Sociology:
Tribalism refers to customs and beliefs transmitted and enacted in groups (“Tribe’s”) sharing a common identity and in which centralized political organization and authority are absent. Academic and public references to tribalism have been expanded to refer to behaviors and beliefs associated with diverse populations, including those that share any one, or all, of the following: race, ethnicity, language, religion, ways of life, kinship, attitudes, worldview, and generation.
Got Questions.com:
Tribalism is a strong feeling of loyalty to a group, ideology, or “Tribe”. In its most basic forms, tribalism is the glue that holds ethnic groups together, such as Native American “Tribe’s”, Jews, or African-Americans. Tribalism is also found in other groups that have lasting cohesion, such as religions, sports teams, families, or small towns. On the positive side, tribalism creates loyalty, provides security for members of the “Tribe”, and fosters a sense of community and belonging. However, tribalism gone rogue can destroy the very institutions it ought to strengthen.
2. Benefits
· Good tribal dynamics ensures that members are catered to. Collective bargaining improves their strength to negotiate (Unions)
· Beyond sharing burdens, it is nourishing to have people who share your triumphs with you. In particular in the Christian community when you see how many people actually are Christians, it gives you added faith that you are not alone.
· Mutual relationships: One of the most important things “Tribe’s” offers is “relationship”. And through relationships you can get stuff done. In fact, relationships are in all possibility the most important thing in life to strive for.
· Intimacy: “Tribe’s” are intimate groups. Members become close as they work together on initiatives, issues, problems, projects. In this intimacy lies a great power. And the ability to speak openly and completely about anything without retribution. In fact, friends are less critical of you then your own family. To belong to a group or “Tribe” that shares the same values as you creates a safe environment
· Trust: There is nothing quite like working in collaboration with a group of people that share similar beliefs, have faith in each other and light each other’s collective fires. This is very evident in the Christian community. When your faith wavers, your “Tribe” will lift you up to be fired up again.
· Acceptance: In a “Tribe” you can be yourself. No judgments. No reason to pretend. You can bare your soul. No pressure to be perfect. You can be vulnerable.
· Collective ability: “Tribe” members have different gifts or attributes. Engendering each member gives better solutions than one person can. One of the Covey rules are: Engender difference. Seek out and use differences to improve the performance of the “Tribe”.
· Support: Members of a “Tribe” at times go through difficult times. The “Tribe” is there to support and encourage and carry you through difficult time. In the Christian community, the common faith of the “Tribe” sets a foundation of sharing and caring for each other. They take co-accountability for you to ensure that you are keeping on the right track.
· Protection: “Tribe’s” allows for protection of deep seated truths in a world that tries to destroy your truths and views. “Tribe’s” support gives you the courage to speak out. For what you believe in.
· Culture: “Tribe’s” help you to imbed your good culture principles in the next generation. Not all traditions and cultures are good. “Tribe’s” must acknowledge this and replace bad culture, bad principles to be able to be relevant in changing times. They must have a learning spirit to learn from other “Tribe’s”.
3. Dangers
· Blindness: being “fanatical” tribalists tend to make the “Tribe” blind to development and better practices. They tend not to have a learning spirit but will stick doggedly to what they believe, even if it is wrong. Currently we see this in organizations such as BLM and BGTQ “Tribe’s”
· Categorization: Many “Tribe’s” categorize people based on skin colour, political affiliation, rich, and poor, male, female, etc. The danger is that they then charge the ““Tribe”” as being racists, etc. Instead of isolating the guilty party and taking action against that person. We have seen this in the BLM movement. All whites are racists. This is a lie. All people that do not agree with them are wrong and they will isolate, demonize and ostracize people that believe differently. They effectively shut down free speech.
· Violence: Many “Tribe’s”, when they are opposed for their beliefs, they will encourage their members to object and riot. They have a victim mentality and rationalize their rioting that the other “Tribe” deserves it. We have seen this with BLM and the violence from their riots destroying business and buildings.
We have seen some horrific violence in the past such as:
1975-79―A man called Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia. His goal was to set up a Communist, peasant, farming society. The result was that a quarter of the country’s population died of starvation or execution.
1992-95―The patched-together ethnic nationalities of Yugoslavia started fighting. The Christian Serbs turned on the Bosnian Muslims and the world heard the words “ethnic cleansing” for the first time. One hundred thousand people were killed.
1994―In the African country of Rwanda ethnic Hutu people attacked Tutsis. Wielding mostly machetes, the Hutus slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis.
Since 2003, government-supported militias have killed about 400,000 people and forced 2.5 million more to flee in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
In his 1994 book Death by Government, political scientist R. J. Rummel documents the murders of more than 133 million people in the 20th century that can be attributed to extreme tribalism.
In 1568, the Catholic Church, through the offices of the Spanish Inquisition condemned the entire population of the Netherlands, with a few exceptions, to death for heresy. King Philip II of Spain ordered the executions to begin immediately. The number of victims is impossible to calculate, but it was sure to have been many tens of thousands.
This is the worst part of fanatical tribalism. This has to stop. This is killing the world.
· Forced compliance: One of the other effects of fanatical tribalism is the forced compliance. We have seen this with BLM. All white people had to bow down to BLM whether they are guilty of racism or not. This is demeaning and treating people based on their race. That is the worst form of racism. That is treating people with disdain and disrespect. It is forcing their “superiority” on them. All people are equal and should be treated as such.
· Action based on false information: Many “Tribe’s” act on false or non-proved acquisitions. They act on rumors and not facts. Even if they are proven wrong they will not admit it or apologize. They will skirt over it and carry on with demeaning the person.
· Creating of Martyrs to advance their cause: “Tribe’s” tend to create martyrs to fuel their cause and violence. We saw this with BLM. Floyd should not have been killed. That is a travesty of justice. However he was a hardened criminal that was in jail a number of times. This fact is denied and he is made a “sinless saint” to support the cause.
· “The tribalists constantly exaggerates and boasts
about the qualities, merits and good deeds of the “Tribe”… on the other hand they refuse to recognize their faults, and even tries systematically to hide them. With respect to other [“Tribe’s”], exactly the opposite attitude prevails.” And they will capitalize on these incidences to get back at the people not in agreement with their beliefs.
· “The tribalist indulges freely in liberalism and favoritism towards people of his “Tribe”… By contrast, he is in general very sectarian towards people of other “Tribe’s”
· “The tribalist tries to grant all privileges and posts of responsibility to the people of his “Tribe”.” Jobs for palls. We see these phenomena especially in Africa. Merit is not a consideration, even if they cannot manage the post they are in.
· “Conversely, the tribalist seeks to exempt his own people from their duties and obligations… from the most dangerous or humiliating missions.” The blame game is rife; anything that goes wrong is somebody else’s fault. They take no responsibility for their actions.
· “Occasionally, the tribalist even believes that those who are not his “Tribe” are too rich and fortunate to deserve his help.”
4. What does Scripture say:
You will notice the good attributes of tribalism is supported by the Word of God. Unfortunately bad tribalism is not aligned with the Word of God. Let us look at a number of Scripture.
· Never let tribalism prevent you from reaching out to another “Tribe’s” people. We should love them without reserve, even if we see them as an “enemy” in terms of their views and beliefs.
Matthew 5:43-44 - 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Luke 10:26-28 - 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Proverbs 25:21 - If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
Romans 12:20 - On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
· Have a learning spirit: we have to open our eyes and ears to listen to other people. That does not mean we have to accept what they say. Stupidity is not learning from other people. Once you have heard, you can evaluate what their views are and only accept what is acceptable to God. He promises wisdom for them that ask.
Proverbs 2 - My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding.
Psalm 111:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.
Proverbs 3:13 - Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,
Proverbs 9:12 - If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
Proverbs 11:2 - When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 13:10 - Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
· We need each other: this is reality. We all need each other. We should be engendering differences in views. A healthy debate between opposing parties is a good thing. It opens up one mind to different thoughts and solutions. There is nothing worse than treating people that you do not agree with you, as being “below” you in status. That is prideful and God hates the prideful.
We are uniquely made by God in His image. –
Genesis 1:27 - So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
The hard reality is that if we do not treat each other with respect and in particular demeaning another person, you are in realty decrying the work of God. We are the crown of His creation. The current cancel culture denies the uniqueness of God’s creation. If we deny that and “force” other people to do the same, you are effectively taking away their God given role in society and society is poorer as a result of it. Together we can achieve far more than on our own. The uniqueness of e.g. a woman’s ability to be more people and emotionally focused brings into the group a dimension which would be lost if the decision was taken with only men and their “Tribe”.
In fact, if you want to be successful in life, having people of different gender, race, and views and listening to them “outside” your “Tribe”, you will derive at better decisions. In business I had the most race, gender and religious group of people you could possibly imagine. By listening to them with an attentive and learning ear, you do not only demonstrate to them that their views are important, but they shape the business with you and become far more loyal and productive and supportive of decisions.
We also have to understand that God loves all people. We must demonstrate the same love. Jesus went across all “Tribe” barriers to reach out to the poor, the despised, and the ungodly to touch their lives in a positive way. Our lives must show your godliness. That is how we make Christ “attractive” to people outside our “Tribe”. We should take pride in developing people to their fullest extent, irrespective of the “Tribe” they belong to.
5. What should we do about our current situation:
We are experiencing the major negative effects of bad tribalism today. The cancel culture and methodology of “Tribe’s” like BLM and LGBTQ proponents are putting pressure on us to conform to their ideologies. It is in particular aimed at the Christian community. Most other religions seem to be immune to these attacks. It should not be a surprise to us as Jesus said we would have trouble, be hated and even put to death for what we believe in.
We need to stand up against these attacks. We need to boldly proclaim the “truth” and what we believe in and should not be intimidated. I have and never will bow down to “Tribe’s” like BLM. I am not a racist. I never have been and never will. I do even love them although I believe they have evil intent. But like Jesus said on the cross: “Forgive them; they do not know what they are doing”. The sad reality is that whether they know it or not, accept it or not, if they do not change their evil ways they will feel the wrath of God when He comes to judge us.
We must keep on praying for them that the Lord will open their eyes, ears and minds to the truth that they too may inherit eternal life. I sometimes get very fearful for what they will experience in eternal death. I am fearful on their behalf.
We as Children of God are on the winning “Tribe”. We will one day reign with Jesus in heaven. Our future is secure. Our joy cannot be extinguished. Out battle is temporary. It is only a short time and He will come to fetch us.
So: Keep your faith alive, love as you have never loved before and know that your hope is in Christ alone. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that HE is Lord!!
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