Resist the Dispensing of Existence
I used to be a believer in the “big tent.” We just need to let everyone in and compromise on some things and agree to disagree on other things.
That can work when we’re talking about whether the top tax rate should be 25% or 45%. It can work when we disagree over infant versus believers baptism or intinction versus separate little juice cups, or even juice versus wine.
The big tent becomes impossible, though, when some people declare that anyone who disagrees with them, or is not like them, is not deserving of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
When the language and practices of dehumanization become tolerated and normalized, the big tent is impossible.
In recent months, Karl Rove has raised concerns about the Nazification of the Republican Party and Russell Moore about the same problem in Christian circles.
In his book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Jay Lifton referred to something called “the dispensing of existence.”
“…the conviction that there is just one path to true existence, just one valid mode of being, and that all others are perforce invalid and false. Totalists thus feel themselves compelled to destroy all possibilities of false existence as a means of furthering the great plan of true existence to which they are committed.” (Lifton, p. 561)
In practical terms, it is the deliberate practice of dehumanizing a group, or individual, so that they can be shunned or removed.
The normalization of dehumanizing rhetoric in “conservative” circles is what Rove and Moore are concerned about as “Nazification.”
Many of us left “conservatism” years ago because of the rise of this rhetoric. It didn’t start in 2024, but now it is undeniable and has moved beyond language into depriving human beings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, without due process, and based solely on race and creed.
When I looked at the armor of God and compared it to the list of tactics of thought reform, it seemed to me that the appropriate piece of armor for resisting the dispensing of existence is the breastplate of righteousness.
“Put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
The breastplate protects the heart. Far too many Christians have been taught that the way to protect the heart is by hardening it, by viewing empathy as toxic, and by leaning into fear.
That is not the righteousness of Jesus.
The heart is an organ and a muscle. To protect our hearts, we have to exercise them.
“Beloved, let us love one another.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are called to love whomever has been deemed unworthy. This is the righteousness of Jesus.
Christian Discipleship should equip people with the tools to resist dehumanization. So, how did Christianity become the path toward dehumanization?
Maybe it began with Jesus. That’s where my discipleship journey began, in recognizing the humanity of Jesus.
I didn’t realize that in accepting that Jesus had to die as a sacrifice for sin, that made him a pawn and removed his agency. In believing in his omniscience, he was stripped of genuine emotional responses. Once we dehumanize Jesus, we can dehumanize anyone.
Acknowledging the humanity in Jesus does not reduce his divinity, it is the beginning of seeing the image of God in all of humanity.
Therefore, if it is the Haitians who are being dehumanized, then our job is to love the Haitians. If it is the Somalis, then we shall love the Somalis. If it is trans kids, then we love the trans kids.
Yes, we are called to love everyone, and we should not wait until a group becomes marginalized, but when a group is being actively targeted for dehumanization, we show up and honor their humanity. Our call is to see the imago dei in each one.
I have often shared that my deconstructing journey began with the questions, “what is a disciple,” and “how do we make disciples,” but I rarely mention the third question: “how will we know if we’ve made one?”
I suppose I never thought it was my job to make that determination. We just put up a big tent and focus on the first two, but recently I’ve come to realize that there is a simple test: one who is able to resist Nazification.
I never used to think that was a hard thing, but now I have a new understanding of discipleship and spiritual formation. The Nazis were neither evil people, nor an anomaly of history. Most of them were normal, decent people who were deliberately shaped and molded by evil people to do evil things.
That is our challenge today. There are people who seek to shape their neighbors into people who will tolerate, and even participate, in horrible atrocities.
I think what Paul understood, but what we somehow lost along the way, is that this is the story of human history. There will always be evil people, the fight is not against them, it is against the ways in which they manipulate others.
When they dehumanize, our job is to humanize. Is it to love.
“‘...if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21-21)
This is part 3 of my series on looking at the armor of God as the weapons against totalism. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.
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