Is religion a victim of tribalism?

Is religion a victim of tribalism?

By David Wold

Every year around the turn of the year, columnists in many newspapers choose "the word of the year". Now it's almost March, so I'm some months behind with my choice. But then Neil Young sang, "When I was fast I was always behind." So what's my choice for the word of the year a couple of months late? Get ready, because here it comes. "Tribalism".

Erik Helmersson, who writes in Dagens Nyheter, describes tribalism like this: “It is one of the worst dangers of humanity. Tribalism divides us into groups and says that my group is superior to your group in different ways. As for why and how my group is the best, our imagination has no limitations.”

Look around. Tribalism is everywhere. This can be seen in prejudices such as extreme nationalism, anti-Semitism, sexism and racism. And religion is unfortunately no exception.

Religion and tribalism

Often religions stand for the very opposite of what their founders stood for. Jesus never mentioned gays or abortion but focused on the sick and the poor, yet some Christian leaders have prospered by demonizing gays. 

Muhammad raised the status of women in his time, yet today some Islamic clerics bar women from driving, or cite religion as a reason to hack off the genitals of young girls. 

Buddha presumably would be aghast at the apartheid imposed on the Rohingya minority by Buddhists in Myanmar.

Martin Luther can be seen in this context. On the one hand, it was Luther who translated the Bible and reformed the corrupt Catholic church. Or the Luther who challenged the powerful. Or Luther, the spiritual leader whose ideas changed the Church forever.

And there is a darker side of Luther. We do not like this Luther. Tribal thinking Martin Luther. Luther who hated Jews, Turks and Papists. Would the Swedish Lutheran Church today accept this side of Luther? Hardly.

The founders of religions are typically bold and charismatic visionaries who inspire with their moral imagination, while their teachings sometimes evolve into ingrown, risk-averse bureaucracies obsessed with money and power. 

That tension is especially pronounced with Christianity. Jesus was a radical who challenged the establishment. However, in much of the world Christianity has become so successful that it is the establishment.

Positive religious tribalism

If members of a religious tribe assume themselves to be moral by default, they are likely to look at other people outside of their tribe as misguided souls, if not wicked infidels. For such people, religion works not as cure for the soul, but as drug for the ego. It makes them not humble, but arrogant. Is it the message of religion? Hardly.

Let's look back on Helmersson's description of tribalism. Is tribalism always negative? Since people are social creatures, it may be necessary for people to belong to a tribe? Is there anything that can be called positive tribalism?

Where is the boundary between negative and positive tribalism? For example, are ethnic jokes examples of tribalism? Some say yes and some say no. Perhaps it depends on the context? If a Norwegian or Swedish joke is told among those who look down on Norwegians or Swedes, this is an example of negative tribalism.

On the other hand, if a Norwegian and Swede exchange Norwegian and Swedish jokes just for a good laugh, maybe it's an example of the existence of tribalism, but not harmful tribalism.

Jesus, the Pharisees and tribalism

Is religion a victim of tribalism? Positive or negative? Jesus spotted this problem two millenniums ago. Those practicing Pharisees who are “confident of their own righteousness and look down on everybody else,” he declared, “are not really righteous. Sinners who regret their failures are more moral than the pious who boast.” (Luke 18:14)

Religion is important in today's world, but it must always show its best side – positive tribalism. Negative tribalism must be counteracted. Each religion must counteract concepts such as extreme nationalism, antisemitism, sexism and racism – and even bad ethnic jokes. Religions must show that all people are of equal value and that no one should be discriminated against. Otherwise, more and more evil will be made in the name of religion. And more and more people will ask what is religion is good for.

There is a basic ethical principle found in many religions as well as philosophical and ethical teachings. Christianity puts it this way: "Do to others as you would want them to do to you" (Matthew 7:12)