How many times have you heard someone say, “I am not a fan of organized religion”? Or “I am spiritual but *not* religious”? Or the usual criticisms about the Catholic Church: “It’s dogmatic, it has a lot of doctrines, it is ‘patriarchal’”?
Those views have unfortunately become rather popular in our Western society. And they roll right in with the past 60 years of arguing about rights and privileges, equal opportunity versus equal outcome, institutionalized versus self-inflicted oppression, rights about reproduction, and no shortage of finger pointing between polarized groups.
And while it is a necessary part of human growth to build sound critical thinking skills, and have healthy debates to help shape our individual perspectives, we humans have a dangerous pattern of turning our individual perspectives into group perspectives, and then often corrupting those group perspectives into all-out tribalism.
Ok, but what is the problem with tribalism, you may be asking? After all, haven’t tribes been around since the dawn of humanity? Isn’t it good to unite people under a common vision to help society become more productive, more progressive, less violent, less corrupt, more cooperative, and hopefully more likely to survive against life’s plethora of tragedies (infectious diseases, war, human trafficking, authoritarian like regimes, to name a few…)?
Or is it not empowering to have a favorite sports team and show your unwavering support? Or that you consider yourself Republican or a Democrat, and therefore have more purpose in your life for lining up behind an ideology? Or that because the very essence of evolution involves most species organizing themselves into hierarchies, isn’t it, well, natural for us to build strong tribes of people who can well relate to each other? Don’t tribes help weed out the fence sitters from the loyalists? Also, some tribes are fundamentally healthy and positive in nature – so why the fuss?
Here is why: Hierarchies, by nature, are highly susceptible to tyranny. *All* tyrannical governments / societies have had one theme in common: They started out as an ideology, which turned into a hierarchy – and then, under the wrong leadership, devolved into a corrupt form of tribalism. It always happens when one person says, “I believe X is what’s best for our society”, while another person often has an opposite view of “No, Y is best for our society.” Then, the two argue back and forth – and depending on their individual personalities, the arguments can go from rather harmless and mild to all-out war and conquering entire civilizations. Just like “it takes a village to raise a child” – it takes a tribe to destroy a village.
So, when do we know whether we are part of a good tribe or a pernicious one?
If the tribe promotes any idea that requires preemptively harming other people because they have different views; or if it follows a cult-like leader who quickly dismisses all contrary ideologies as a lie; or if it involves manipulating morals or creating moral thugs (for example, a nationalist who wants the U.S. to bomb all Middle Eastern Countries, even if it means killing innocent people, because it is for the “greater good”) – then that tribe is evil to the core.
Most – if not all – of us are familiar with extremist groups, both Left and Right, who fit the profile of corrupt tribe. And that is because tribes – once again, built upon hierarchies – skew to tyrannical behavior.
Now, here is why so many people allow this to happen: We confuse power with *competence*. We think that to climb the ladder of success, it means some degree of dog-eat-dog to get to the top. We stand up and cheer for power. It is partly why we in the West are so obsessed with our belongings and qualities being big and mighty: big trucks, big houses, big muscles, big sports teams, big electronics, big personalities, big superheroes, big weapons…big, big, big. We easily get so enamored by any symbol of power and crushing strength. It certainly has an evolutionary component, as a bulk of human existence involves jockeying for positions within a hierarchy (work, school, families, clubs…).
Yet plenty of scientific studies within the past several decades have shown the real key to success is not “power”. Rather, it is *competence*. The more competent a person becomes, the more opportunities that person can create. Best of all: Although competence requires confidence, it does not require cockiness. Power, on the other hand, requires cockiness. And while cockiness is sometimes clothed in confidence, it generally has a short life span. It turns out that while a lot of people gravitate to tribal thinking, many end up feeling duped by nefarious agendas and power struggles that usually break tribes apart.
Just look at other primates in our world: Chimpanzees often corrupt their hierarchies. Baboons do the same. Now, imagine we humans are exponentially more advanced than other primates, yet even in our almost miraculously advanced thinking, we fall into the power trap again and again and again.
How does all of this relate to the Catholic Church? Well, in this past year of dealing with both a pandemic and polarizing politics, here in the U.S. and abroad as well, this perfect storm of problems has exposed tribalism to its very core: that even though many of my fellow Catholics and I live according to a belief that Is about uniting the world under the gift of Salvation, as well as building a universal (hence the word “Catholic”) relationship with our triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), we are still faulty humans who let the dark sides of secularism get the best of us. (Note: Secularism has some positive attributes as well, but it must also be called out for its fallacies.)
That said, the foundation of Catholic life is not to be Republican versus Democrat, or fans of opposing football teams, or group identifying ourselves based on the Mass format we prefer, nor using any other misguided label that is not the essence of Catholic Christian faith. The Bible and the Magisterium explain clearly what it means to be Catholic. Yes, that does mean preserving the sanctity of life and upholding the Catechism. But no, it does not mean trying to manipulate 2000 years of Church teaching to align with any secular agenda that pushes group identity — which then causes people to line up on either side of an often slippery argument for ideological secularism. Which then leads to tribalism. Which then leads to, well, you get the idea now.
Let us instead hold steadfast to what makes us Catholic Christians: To celebrate in Christ’s love for us, be continually mindful of all the Sacramental gifts we receive, and fully understand that this 2000-year-old hierarchy the Church has provided us—despite its own ups and downs throughout the centuries — is for us to be *one*, *unified* body of believers in Christ’s salvation.
There is *no* ideology, secular or otherwise, that replaces our Salvation and the critical need to adhere to Church teaching. Even at the risk of me sounding too preachy, we have something outstandingly special to share with the world, and it is in every component of Catholic Christian faith: our Holy Bible, the Mass, the Sacraments, and the Catechism. Let that be our *universal* foundation in place of everything else. And in that place, we find peace.