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By Jo Gamm Witt
What sparked my interest and inspired me to write was a shared post, from which I visited the poster’s Facebook page and was surprised and shocked at her posts, especially because of the incongruence. She clearly identified herself as a Christian in several of her posts, and yet the vast majority of her posts contradicted Christian teachings. As a frame of reference, she also posted numerous posts about grieving the loss of her husband a year ago and seemed to be filled with a lot of anger.
Having spent a week off and on pondering about her posts, one thing that stands out is that many of her posts were aimed against groups of people, and less so about individuals. I recall back to when I was finishing up my psychology degree a few years ago, a sociology class in which we studied about groups and about how people tend to group people together and then may dislike or hate a certain group of people, without consideration of the individuals that comprise the group, often whom may not truly share all the same traits. We also learned about how sometimes within a disliked group, a person may make an “exception” and see an individual’s merit, while still viewing the group as a whole adversely. It’s interesting how the human mind works at times….
A lot of that poster’s posts were political. Within the context of grouping people, I think if we’re all honest, we can admit that we have all posted some unfair and ridiculing political posts. But is it not hypocritical of all of us to do so, without considering that groups (even political ones) are comprised of individuals, and if we claim to be Christians and yet post ridiculing, hateful messages, haven’t we failed to live Jesus’ command to love our neighbor? It’s one thing to attempt to objectively point out a politician’s failures performing his/her duties, while another to subjectively ridicule a politician’s (or anyone’s) personal traits. And again, I am admitting my own shortcomings in this as well, and I plan to strive to do better myself.
The poster also contradicted herself several times by first posting messages about loving each other and lifting each other up, and then posting messages about people being too sensitive and too easily offended. So, which is it? Love and care for your neighbor, or put down your neighbor when he/she feels hurt?
I was also taken aback by her several posts that were insensitive to racial issues. It was unclear whether she was racist or primarily unaware of the scope of the issues. And again, that brings us back to issues of grouping people, making assumptions about groups of people, judging people by their groups without seeing contrasting individuals within those groupings. And is it living out Jesus’ command to love our neighbor, to be insensitive to racial issues?
She also had numerous posts attacking the poor. And again, it can be easy to group people together and make assumptions about the group, without considering individuals within the group and individuals’ circumstances. If we truly reason things out, it is inaccurate to assume all poor people are poor by their own choosing and purposefully take advantage of the government and government programs. And if we claim to be Christians, what about what Jesus said about caring for the poor?
The poster also posted several posts attacking Muslims, making the presumption that all Muslims are terrorists. Once again, grouping people all together and making assumptions about the group as a whole, without any consideration for the individuals that comprise the group. As a side note, those who’ve studied religions of the world know that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God. Jesus posed the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and then told a parable about an individual from a group despised by the Jews, the Samaritans, helping a Jew that was injured along the road. Is a Muslim our “neighbor,” someone that we’re to love? Or do we justify not loving certain individuals because of them being part of certain groups? Is that congruent with Jesus’ teachings? Can we justify being selective about who is worthy of our purported Christian love, based on their group?
She also posted several anti-immigration posts. And immigration has become a very complicated issue in our country and one I myself have grappled with. At the same time, it is inaccurate to assume all immigrants (all grouped together) come here with ill-intentions and shortsighted to not see that our own ancestors immigrated here to escape some of the same adversities these people have been facing in their countries of origin. What if our own ancestors were met with such hatred, and some of them actually were. But again, often there has been unfairness in viewing all immigrants collectively as a group and making assumptions that may not be true of all individuals within the group. And again, is it Christian to only selectively love certain people based on their groupings?
In considering the whole of my thoughts about that poster’s posts, it seems like grouping people maybe is a big part of the problem. And again, I’m guilty of it myself at times, too. We can’t put aside treating people in Christian ways just because we see them as a group instead of as individuals. I hope it’s something we all will try to recognize in ourselves and strive to do better.
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