{"id":33383,"date":"2023-10-13T02:25:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T09:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33383"},"modified":"2023-10-13T02:37:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T09:37:47","slug":"embrace-not-exclude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/embrace-not-exclude\/","title":{"rendered":"Embrace, Not Exclude"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inner self is the basis of human dignity, <\/em><\/p>\n

moreover the inner sense of dignity needs recognition<\/em><\/p>\n

-Francis Fukuyama-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Identity politics seems to be a scourge in our national and state life. I still clearly remember the moment of the Governor\u2019s election for our nation’s capital in 2017. Of the three pairs of candidates running, there is one candidate for governor who is Christian and also of Chinese descent with his ancestors having resided here for several generations. Identity politics regarding that election arose in various narratives, especially via social media circulates massively and widely without anyone being able to stop it. Even though six years have passed since this incident, for some people the trauma of the election for governor of our country’s capital remains strong. Currently, our nation is preparing to enter the general election to elect the President and Vice President early next year. Even though all the candidates running for office have the same religious background (the majority religion here), identity politics narratives are starting to emerge again, especially on various social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Identity politics is very closely related to what Fukuyama wrote in his book, namely human dignity. Humans need within themselves to gain recognition. Fukuyama wrote a term called thymos. \u201cThymos is the part of the soul that craves recognition of dignity.\u201d[1]<\/a> From there, the term “isothymia” became known. Isothymia is the demand to be respected on an equal basis with other people.\u201d[2]<\/a> Therefore I agree with Fukuyama that \u201cdemand for recognition of one\u2019s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today.\u201d[3]<\/a> Why does it happen? Fukuyama explains that \u201cin all cases a group, believes that it has an identity that is not being given adequate recognition\u2014either by the outside world, in the case of a nation, or by other members of the same society.\u201d[4]<\/a> The question is, what identity is meant? Fukuyama points out that these identities are very diverse: \u201cThose identities can be and are incredibly varied, based on nation, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Amid the diversity of human identities, what becomes a problem is when a person or group of people is dominated by the desire to be superior, as mentioned by Fukuyama with the term \u201cmegalothymia.\u201d[6]<\/a> The lust for power and superiority has produced more bad effects than good. The desire to be superior encourages a person or group of people to do everything they can to achieve their goals. It doesn’t matter if this method leads them to carry out exploitation, genocide, and so on. For this reason, Fukuyama offers the idea of the need to build a “national identity.” According to Fukuyama, \u201cnational identity begins with a shared belief in the legitimacy of the country\u2019s political system, whether that system is democratic or not.\u201d[7]<\/a> The benefit of national identity according to Fukuyama is to present physical security, the creation and maintenance of good government, the creation and sustaining of economic development, build trust, and strong social safety.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Fukuyama\u2019s experiences and narratives he built give us an important understanding of building life in today’s global world. Even though humans have differences and uniqueness, humans have advantages and disadvantages, these are not reasons that can justify carrying out acts of racism, exclusion, oppression, exploitation, and genocide. There is a term mentioned by Miroslav Volf, namely “exclude”, which means \u201cinstead of reconfiguring myself to make space for the other, I seek to reshape the other into who I want her to be in order that in relation to her I may be who I want to be.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

In my perspective, the big community that can be positive in efforts to eradicate identity politics is Christianity and the church. Why? Because Christianity and the church have the gift of wisdom and spiritual values that come from God about how one should live life in a world full of diversity and uniqueness. Of course, it is a big concern if Christians and churches also use identity politics in building their internal and external relations. It is very unfortunate that Christianity and the church actually do this nowadays. Let what the church did and happened in the past become a historical record and a learning record about how to build a positive and empowering life in the present. Of course, we all still remember how the first humans fell and were trapped in the desire to be superior, to be the same as God. We need to be aware of similar tendencies that we carry out today.<\/p>\n

Christianity and the church have so much \u201chomework\u201d that requires attention and energy to complete. These tasks can be carried out and completed well when Christianity and the church abandon all forms of “identity politics” practices. Therefore, the presence of Christianity and the church will actually bring about justice and goodness for all. Everyone, regardless of who they are or their background and identity, possesses the same rights and dignity before God and is loved by Him. So, why do we differentiate and treat each other unfairly? To realize this, within Christianity and the church, there needs to be a “will to embrace” as stated by Volf: \u201cThe knowledge of justice depends on the will to embrace. The relationship between justice and embrace goes deeper, however. Embrace is part and parcel of the very definition of justice.\u201d[10]<\/a> As Christ has come, embracing and loving everyone, so should the attitude and actions of the church. This was then reflected well by the apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28 says: \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment<\/em>, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018), xiii.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity.<\/em><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>, xiv.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>, 9.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>, xiii.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>, 126.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Francis Fukuyama,\u00a0Identity<\/em>, 128-130.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation<\/em>, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 91.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace<\/em>, 220.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The inner self is the basis of human dignity, moreover the inner sense of dignity needs recognition -Francis Fukuyama-   Identity politics seems to be a scourge in our national and state life. I still clearly remember the moment of the Governor\u2019s election for our nation’s capital in 2017. Of the three pairs of candidates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2852],"class_list":["post-33383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dglp02-fukuyama","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33386,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33383\/revisions\/33386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}