I watch the U.S. political scene from north of the border, and wonder who writes the script. Lewis Carroll, with Donald Trump playing the Queen of Hearts who wants to cut off everyone’s head? Franz Kafka, with a bewildered everyman trying to penetrate a nightmare labyrinth of misinformation, contradictions, and downright lies? J.K. Rowling, creating a parallel world that mere muggles can never comprehend? Even they would be hard-pressed, I think, to imagine a situation where a presidential candidate deliberately alienates the ethnic and religious nations he’d have to negotiate with if elected. Where a handful of armed rebels dare the feds to re-enact Waco. Where a gunman kills three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic and gets praised for saving lives. The logic escapes me.
Five key factors Jonathan Haidt argues that logic has nothing to do with it. Haidt is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. During the last ten years, Haidt and his associations surveyed over 30,000 people on five continents, to find out how people make decisions. They found five fundamental concepts common to all cultures. 1. Care: reduction of harm, compassion 2. Fairness: equality, reciprocity, mutuality, cooperation. 3. Loyalty: to the group or the ideology, which includes religion. 4. Authority: obedience, respect for leaders and traditions. 5. Purity, sanctity: conformity in food, clothing, sex, language, and behaviour. But each of us ranks those five differently. Haidt presents these values as a chart, with liberal values on the left (naturally), and conservative values on the right. Liberals, generally, give priority to the first two items. On Haidt’s chart, the lines for caring and fairness start high on the left, then decline slowly as they move to the right. The lines for loyalty, authority, and purity start far lower. But as the graph moves towards the right, the conservative themes of loyalty, authority, and purity rise higher. Until, at the extreme right, they take priority over the liberal values of caring and fairness. Indeed, those liberal values will be seen as a threat, not an opportunity.
Setting priorities If Haidt is correct, Republicans cannot be swayed by arguments that the poor deserve compassion. But they might by appealing to authority – the teachings of the Bible, for example.
Purity helps to explain the conservative obsession with what the late biblical scholar Marcus Borg called “crotch issues.” And so, claims Ruth Marcus, a writer for the Washington Post, “in the larger scheme of things, Bill Clinton's conduct toward women is far worse than any of the offensive things that Trump has said.” Similarly, an internet commentator – I can vouch only for the existence of the message, not its accuracy -- described his Republican grandmother’s insistence that Clinton’s dalliance with a female intern was a “worse” offence than George Bush’s sacrifice of over 4,000 American lives in Iraq. Haidt carefully avoids suggesting that one pattern of making choices is better, or worse, than the other. He simply wants to show that both left and right base their decisions on factors which the other side finds incomprehensible, irrelevant, or unimportant.
Values from the past But I need to maintain academic neutrality. And when I look at Haidt’s list of values, it seems to me that liberal values reflect the Enlightenment, that period in European development that stressed reason, logic, and intelligence. Conservative values, on the other hand, derive from the tribal cultures that dominated human relations for millennia. A tribe, a family, a clan, could hold together only if it had the loyalty of all members. You can’t survive if you’re betrayed by one of your own. That’s why Judas’s betrayal of Jesus is so condemned in Christian teaching. Similarly, a tribe must have respect for authority, for order. Internal dissent weakens it. These conservative values are, of course, the same ones espoused by ISIS. And by Asian families who believe honour killings can expunge a family’s shame. And by the Mafia. They’re all tribal cultures. In that sense, I see the moral values of caring and fairness representing progress; conservative values are a throwback to a social system that was once necessary for human survival, but is now outdated. Donald Trump would be a throwback to the lizard era. Haidt makes a further point -- conservative values tend to see threat; liberal values see opportunity. Unfortunately, as Daniel Kahneman documented in his book on how our minds work, people tend to respond far more strongly to fear than to promise. Which means that the U.S. political script is likely to get even more surreal in the short-term future. ******************************************************** Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca ********************************************************
YOUR TURN
In last week’s column, I ventured that the experience of working together – which most of us have had – doesn’t require a supernatural coordinator.
James Russell suggested, “The alternative, of course, is to believe in a God who fixes football games and cheats at cards so as to help out the side that offers the most flattery or the biggest bribes/sacrifices ...”
A couple of e-mails from Charles Hill explored the implications: “So, prayers are useless? We are only talking to ourselves?” My column, Charles suggested, “leads to a lot of questions about any religious systems that posits a ‘creator.’ Considering Gods unresponsiveness to requests for ‘healing’ of our bodies, I tend to agree with you. A few months ago I was attending a very fundamentalist group that believe in a literal interpretation of every word of the
Bible, I asked if they had ever known anyone who had been healed of a terminal illness or even an emotional illness. No one had! And so, at death we simply cease to exist?”
Cliff Boldt took my theme and responded, “And that, Jim, is community! Lots of serendipity in that whole event from start to finish. Lots of common sense. Lots of community. Great story!”
Isabel Gibson particularly liked the line, “God is the play itself, the performance that enchants and captivates."
Peter Scott connected that same sentence to a current controversy in the United Church of Canada: “Like you I believe that God is the performance, the play, also the players, the planet, the universe -- and one of the chief characteristics of God is balance which we humans seem determined to destroy. “It seems sadly ironic to me that Greta Vosper is likely to lose her ordination standing in the United Church at the hands of the literalists among us. She is, in her own way, as rigid about the meaning of the term ‘God’ as any biblical literalist, and so she maintains that throwing out the term is the only responsible way to deal with the problem, instead of calmly broadening her understanding (as so many of us have done) while letting those who can't or won't change maintain their own beliefs. Sad for everyone involved including the United Church and for her ministry.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com. If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@quixotic.ca. You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net. I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca
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PROMOTION STUFF…
 Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah – the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.com Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>  Alan Reynold’s weekly musings, punningly titled “Reynolds Rap” -- reynoldsrap@shaw.ca  Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com  Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town – not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net
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