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A Fractured People are a Vulnerable Nation
The cracks in our Union are widening
We should all be deeply concerned about the fracturing of our nation. The snag in the fabric has torn all the way into local communities and houses of worship. The tear does not show any signs of slowing.
I am not pollyannaish about a “golden age” where America was completely united and whole. The celebration of Juneteenth this week is reminder enough of our nation’s divided history. We have always had our differences. Humans always do.
This week I read two particular pieces I would commend to you for background on my concern:
How America Fractured Into Four Parts by George Packer in the Atlantic.
The Six-Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism by Michael Graham in Mere Orthodoxy.
Packer’s Atlantic piece will provide you a historical angle on the socio-political fracturing of our nation.
Graham’s piece on evangelicalism will give you a flavor of the ways the socio-political divide intersects in one particular faith community. To be clear, I would suggest that evangelicalism’s divide has been hastened by numerous additional factors that are not exclusive to American politics, though political ideologies have been an extraordinary catalyst.
