Divisions Or Strength?

Last week a pretty amazing article came out from Victor David Hanson (if you are not familiar with him, you should be.  His book on the Peloponnesian War, A War Like No Other, should be required reading in high schools.  It would revolutionize Ancient History) called "Are We On The Verge of Civil War?"  The line in question that struck me the most was actually from the end of the article:

"Every day we will either treat each other as fellow Americans, with far more uniting than dividing us, or we will continue on the present path that eventually ends in something like a hate-filled Iraq, Rwanda, or the Balkans."

Strength is not inherently generated through dividing ourselves based on opinion or any other physical, social, or philosophical aspect.  Diversity - divisions based on such things - can be a source of strength, if it is undergirded by a core shared belief.  An example:  The rabbit shelter I volunteer at is a very widely mixed group of individuals that have united around a shared cause, that of saving the bunnies.  We draw on different backgrounds and experiences, but those are used in pursuit of helping towards doing the things to help the rabbits. 

But allow division, this diversity of whatever, to become the most important thing - the thing that is more important than the shared value - and fault lines will inevitably appear, as individuals follow their divisions more quickly than they do the thing the are supposedly uniting around.

The best example I can think of for the latter is the American Church as a whole.  In theory, we all share a common goals around core religious beliefs (except when we do not, of course).  The ideal is that - at least if you read Scripture - if one part of the Body hurts, the whole body hurts and is wounded.  We have turned this all around, of course, arguing that diversity of beliefs and practices within Christianity is a more important virtue - thus when parts of the church are oppressed and target, the other side merely cheers or feels smugly that they are in the right.  The Body bleeding, it seems, has become less important than believing one's self to be in the right.

What is true of the Church is true of politics itself, and indeed every other aspect of civil life:  we are either uniting together around some common goals or beliefs that make us one or we are separating along fault lines that will inevitably tear us apart.  Which is where Hanson seems to put his thumb precisely on the problem.  We currently have made an entire cottage industry of splitting ourselves apart.  If not corrected, it is only a matter of time before the inevitable breakup occurs.