The current paradigm on the left is the politics of identity. You gain power by being a victim, by being oppressed, or more importantly by being the representative of the victims or the oppressed. This leads to a neo-feudal situation where ghettos are encouraged and people need to remain oppressed because that means you have a secure voting bloc.
And if you are not oppressed, you have to make yourself, in leftist terms, some kind of victim. The best example is feminism: despite having won the “long march through the institutions and having institutionalized man-hating laws and systems, they are accounted as victims of the Patriarchy they have destroyed (at great cost to society).
But in Christ there is no partiality.
34Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ — he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,‘”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”9In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
The waters of baptism cover our sins. They cover our victim-hood, the discount our oppression. In Christ we are all equal, and all equally in need. We no longer need to be victims: we are not left in the caste we were born into, but we can move, and glorify God.
Which brings me to my Tori Amos story. Long, long ago, before I was a father, Tori came to Auckland. I have a soft spot for chicks who can play jazz piano, so I paid my dollars and went. Without the wife: (who also would not go to the opera).
I think I was the only straight man in the concert hall. Auckland has a gay & lesbian quarter and every therapist and lesbian in creation, together with the entire woman’s studies coterie (but I repeat myself) had turned up.
And they were wanting Tori to be the confessional, soul baring victim she had been in her first album. So Tori, who is a very smart woman, talked about how she had been vomiting after the first performance in London, and that this was the end of the tour, and it was time to wave goodbye to that little girl.
Because she was not going to spend her career as a victim. And while half the audience was mourning, I was grinning like a loon: She was clearly in therapy and was moving on. As I said, this was many years ago.
The politics of identity is a politics of slavery and it is evil. In Christ we are baptized into equality. We have to deal with the fallen nature of this world and the consequences of our sin, but we are all equal before God. It there is no Roman or Jew, there is no oppressor or victim. We have to abandon our paradigms and learn to be humble again.
Let this culture balkanize. In Christ, we need to be one.