How to defend arrogance and sectarianism

If someone warns others in one’s own tribe to not be arrogant or to value those who are not proper members of a tribe, in the post-Christian era one must be careful how one gains back the moral high ground. It was probably possible at some point in the past (and still is in some cultures) to simply castigate humility as a vice and recommend arrogance as a virtue.  But now most people have to be more sophisticated in getting the moral high ground.

So now one accuses those who aren’t properly committed to the superiority of the tribe in which they are members of “self-loathing.” African Americans who stand for freedom, reduced government, and the market are accused of self-loathing. Jews who defend Palestinians from what they believe has been injustices on the part of the Israeli government are accused of self-loathing. And Christians who are members of certain denominations or traditions who recommend humility and love along the lines of John 17 are accused of self-loathing as members of that specific tribe.

It is the only way to play the game.

Of course, there are always specific ways in which such members of a tribe may be wrong. The Israeli government might not be guilty of a specific allegation. Maybe, once such an error has been proven, self-loathing is an explanation for why the accuser is making false allegations.

In Christian circles I don’t see it being that specific. Someone is sure they are seeing the Gospel used as a rationalization for all sorts of sins of the flesh in his own group: sectarianism, arrogance, etc, and wants to see the Gospel upheld without being accompanied by such sins.  And the other members of the tribe are sure that the accuser is really just not loyal to the tribe’s doctrines and that he wants to undermine the pious attitudes necessary for preserving those doctrines in their congregations.

3 thoughts on “How to defend arrogance and sectarianism

  1. pentamom

    FWIW, Ancient Roman culture did exactly that — arrogance was a virtue, and humility a vice. Which is a good thing to keep in mind when reading the New Testament. Along similar lines, the only reason you DID charity was so that your right hand, and everyone else, would know what your left was doing. The whole point of charity was to gain “honor” for yourself and your family, and you achieved that my making your your name was literally on everything you contributed to.

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  2. Lizenby

    Right you are! The behavior of some in the Christian tribe does seem to be best explained by sociology rather than Biblical ethics. The closing of ranks in tighter circles of isolation, the effeminate screaches that we are under attack while viewing themselves with the utmost propriety as the defenders of all that is right and good, the sycophantic allegiance to the self-appointed constructors of a perceived orthodoxy, the attacking of imaginary foes like Don Quixote in pursuit of a romantic view of the past, longing to be on the front lines shouting the battle cry for all to join the fray for the ‘gospel is at stake’, all point to a pathology of group behavior that is not governed by Biblical ethics.

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