Dangerous Othering

"When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others." - Desmond Tutu

There's a term floating around recently called "othering". Othering is the view or treatment of a group of people as different than - and often, less than - ourselves, possibly because of their race, gender, economic status, country of origin, skin color, religion, etc. It happens quite frequently in our society.

For example, when I argued that the Church should be helping the vulnerable people at the border, I was told that we needed to "take care of our own". In other words, that we (Americans - likely White Americans) were more important than them.

That's othering.

Or when the Muslim community within the US was targeted after 9/11. As though 4 million US citizens were at fault for the actions of an extremist group.

That's othering on steroids.

Othering is not new. Even in the Old Testament, we see examples of othering.

Consider Jonah. God spoke to the prophet Jonah and told him to go to Ninevah and preach against it. Jonah didn't want to go. Many people mistakenly think he didn't want to go because he was afraid. But in Jonah 4:1-4, we see Jonah's real reason. He didn't want to go because he knew God was gracious and compassionate and would forgive them rather than condemn them. He didn't want them to be forgiven - he wanted them destroyed!

Even though God had shown Jonah grace and forgiveness and patience, he didn't want that for sin-ridden Ninevah.

He was othering.

Don’t we do the same?

The Church loves to classify people into categories. People are either Christian or non-Christian. Believers or unbelievers. Saved or unsaved. Conservative or liberal. Right or wrong. 

We sometimes live often in a very black and white world. I've referred to this before as the "Christian bubble".

It may be comfortable in the bubble, but othering is a real danger. When we put everyone who's not in the bubble with us as an "other", we start to see them as less than. As less deserving. As less important. As less loved by God.

We forget they are also human beings. They are people whom God loves as much as He loves us and who He sent His Son to die for. We diminish their value, and we diminish our responsibility to love them as Jesus first loved us.

The Bible talks a lot about loving and caring for our fellow believers, but it talks even more about loving and caring for others. For those who don't yet know God. In fact, one of the most repeated commands in the Old Testament is to care for the foreigner. In the New Testament, Jesus spoke frequently about loving our neighbor - and not just the Christian neighbor, but all the neighbors, and strangers, too.

Consider these verses:

• Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
• Leviticus 19:34: "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt."
• Isaiah 1:17: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed."
• Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you..."
• Matthew 25:40: "...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
• John 13:34: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
• 1 Corinthians 10:24: "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."
• 1 John 3:17: "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?"

God commands us to love others.

Love others. Where love is a verb.

Others who are different from us. Who look different or act different or live different or believe different or vote different. 

God loves every single one - and we are to do the same.

In James 2, favoring some people over others is even called out. James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes, "But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers." Isn't othering a form of favoritism? Or maybe, favoritism is a form of othering...

I suspect the labels we put on other people matter a great deal more to us than they do to God.

Who are our others? Is it the whole world who doesn’t believe like we do? Or are there certain groups that we have targeted or identified as our others? Maybe it's the people coming up to the border, or the Jewish family who lives down the street, or the Mormon church on the corner. Maybe it's the people on the left or the people on the right. Maybe it's the LGBTQIA+ community.

Maybe it's Gaza.

Perhaps we need to remember that other people are not our enemy.

We have an enemy. One who prowls this earth like a lion.

But it is not your neighbor.

It is not your "other". 

We are called to love others. To serve them. To meet their needs. To share with them the love of Jesus.

Go, and do likewise.