Contrary to the TV commercials, America does not run on Dunkin'. Increasingly, it runs on bashin', as in bashing our political (or any other) opponents. Skepticism and snarkiness are now the aging parents of a toxicity no one could have imagined ten years ago.

Example. The very day we read about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death, I saw a fellow train commuter’s phone flashing the headline, “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”  And to think decency used to draw the line. Apparently, we’re now celebrating death, folks.

Of course, the boulevard of beastliness is a two-way street. Conservatives rarely miss an opportunity to bash the “Dumbacrats.” Just this week, I saw a caption underneath President Biden’s photo describing him as “the most vile excuse for a politician in the history of the United States.” And on it goes.

We’ve become a nation plagued with an insatiable desire to categorize—and then demonize—our opponents. If we can merely label someone a “godless lib” or a “MAGA idiot,” we can then smugly associate them with all kinds of extreme beliefs and nasty assumptions. Naturally, we link them with the worst of their kind—and (oddly) feel no shame in stripping others of their individuality. 

But every person has a story. And when we deny them that story, we deny them their personhood. Ultimately, this bloodsport becomes nothing less than a license for character assassination.

To quote James, “These things ought not so to be.”

I'm not dismissing the fact that significant differences do exist. Nor am I advocating that when any political party—Republican or Democrat—takes an anti-God stance, we should look the other way.

But our culture is not our standard. Christ is. History records that He walked the paths of a politically charged era and did so with holiness, not snarkiness. Surely, He saw and felt injustice, extortion, and government oppression. No doubt these all pained Him.

But Jesus knew that back of it all was sin—on all sides, in all people. And He never let politics or culture distract him from His laser lock on lost people. This, then, is our model—holiness, not snarkiness. 

In the end, hell will be full of sinners from both political parties. So, let’s stop leaning on labels and start loving on people. Let’s look past their politics to their person.

Everybody needs Jesus. Do they see Him in you?

“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect.”

1 Peter 3:15

Image by chiplanay from Pixabay