Jesus rejected collective blame.
Individuals, groups and political leaders who use fear and violence to control and manipulate us, count on collective blame to divide us from each other. Perhaps by nature, we are more likely to think the worst of those in other groups, and to make excuses for those in our own group. The result of collective blame is that the people of our group become suspicious, distant and alienated from those of another group which in turn leads to violence of many kinds – including the denial of human and civil rights to minorities.
This violence often escalates and makes all of us less safe.
Jesus had the option of using collective blame. In fact, he would have been much more popular if he had done so. The Roman occupation of Israel/Palestine in the first century had created a tinder-box of anger and violence in response to the every-day economic and physical violence of the Roman Empire. The scarcity the Romans created led people to distrust of those of different cultural and ethnic groups as people struggled for survival. The systemic and institutional violence created individual and group grievances that led many people to acts of violence against Romans. Those who engaged in such violence were called “bandits” and were crucified.
Jesus refused to submit to the lie of collective blame by recognizing the worth of every person: Samaritans, Syrophoenician, lepers, single women, tax collectors and the poor who were called “sinners.”
Jesus refused to submit to the lie of collective blame against Romans. At the height of his influence he turns the crowd, a gathering army of rage and says, “Unless you take your cross, you cannot follow me.” In this statement he rejects the use of violence energized by collective blame. Many left him at that point.
While dying on the cross, a gruesome instrument of torture and oppression, Jesus sought reconciliation with the very same Romans who were killing him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”
For Christians, the resurrection of Jesus is God’s confirmation that Jesus’ path of resilient, determined reconciliation between all human beings is the way of God.
In the wake of the horrific violence in Sri Lanka and other places, we must recognize and reject collective blame and the divisions it creates between us in the United States.
Many news articles point out that the government of Sri Lanka has done an inadequate job of protecting religious minorities: Hindu, Muslim and Christian. This denial of basic human rights creates individual and group grievance that in turn makes hurting people susceptible to the distorted teachings of cults of violence. This in no way excuses this violence, but points out a cycle of violence begun and intensified when governments deny basic human rights.
Sadly, we are seeing a rise in the denial of human rights by governments around the world and even here in the United States. This creates an “apple barrel” of group and individual grievance that puts pressure on the apples, some of whom then act out in horrific ways. We are seeing a dramatic rise in cults of violence – distorting the teachings of many wisdom traditions and seeking moral cover for their immoral deeds. In the U.S. white, Christian supremacy is by far the largest of these.
“Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples – while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose. But Americans, I think, have a great advantage. To renew our unity, we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit – by shared commitments to common ideals.”
George W. Bush
To renew our unity, we need:
- Governments to engage in evidence-based investigations to protect all citizens from those who perpetrate violence
- Governments, institutions and people of good-will to work for the civil and human rights of all people, no matter who they are, who they love, how they do or do not worship.
- Institutions of faith and people of good-will to get out and humanize us, one to another, so that we can see the common humanity at our great teachers dedicated their lives to.
- To grieve and stand in solidarity with those impacted by violence, and to remember the apple barrel that governments and societies create that often fuels it.
- Resist being divided by collective blame.
We know where the road of collective blame leads. We have been there before.
As a Christian, I can only seek to follow my primary teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, who embodied the way of God’s reconciliation between all people, while knowing all too well the pain we have caused one another.