Video from Law & Liberty
American Awakening: Identity Politics, An Affliction of American Culture by Joshua Mitchell
"America was founded on a commitment to an idea: that citizens can be self-governing, living and working together under the rule of law. Unfortunately, however, this idea is being eroded by an ailment – identity politics. Identity politics and other afflictions that deprive us of personal responsibility and a shared community are keeping Americans from pursuing that noble ideal. How do we recover our ideals and rid ourselves of this ailment? Over the course of this live event hosted by Law & Liberty and the RealClear Foundation, Georgetown political theorist and Senior Fellow at the Claremont Center for the American Way of Life Joshua Mitchell spoke on these issues and their cure from his book, American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions in Our Culture." from the video introduction
Joshua Mitchell says in his book American Awakening: Identity Politics, An Affliction of American Culture: “we are living in the midst of an American Awakening,” much like the Great Awakenings of the past—only this time “without God and without forgiveness”
Mitchell points to "scapegoating" as our fall back, our default when we won't take responsibility for life and our sins we look for someone or something to blame. Our culture is ripe with scapegoating today or by another name "whataboutism".
In America today there can be no doubt we have become a people, a nation that has forgotten God.
God and forgiveness are no longer within many peoples mindset. Christians are also devouring each other.
Galatians 5:15
15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Mitchell also points out that perfect justice isn’t possible in this life, and only God can settle accounts. In this present evil age, “human relations are never clean; motives are never pure. There are never ‘solutions’ to ‘problems,’ only never-ending trade-offs between lesser evils and partial goods”
Titus 2:12
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
The reality is we need no other scapegoat that Jesus.
As Christians we must not let ourselves be pulled into this sinful thinking and living. Stay focused on Christ!
Here is an excellent article from The Gospel Coalition: America’s Not-So-Great Awakening
The Ugly Psychology Behind Scapegoating: Luke Burgis - Big Think
Video from Big Think
"Did you know that our desires are not entirely our own? Desires are imitated from the first moment we are born. Our desires form from what our parents, friends, and significant others want in life. Now placed in a group, large or small, these imitative desires are even more powerful. These transferred desires within a group do create cohesion, but they're also the heart of where scapegoats are born. A scapegoat is someone outside of your group who also stands out from the social norm. The group then uses these scapegoats to transfer blame and negative emotions because they do not share the desires of the group. This blame, negative emotion, or fundamental truth is something the group does not want to acknowledge internally, so the blame is transferred to the scapegoat. In an instant, the problems of the group are gone because of the transfer of blame onto the scapegoat. Since scapegoats are identified as the root cause of the problem, they create a sense of relief, healing, and even protection for the group." from video introduction
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