“United we stand, divided we fall.”
“We’re more divided than ever.”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
The refrain goes on and on.
We keep hearing of divisions, but hearing no way back to unity.
It is undeniable that there is strength in unity. It is also true that there seems to be a growing disunity in the United States.
How do we find unity? The answer is a common vision.
Unity is not found in the abstract, but in a shared idea. Saying you want unity – without making clear what our vision is – gets us no closer to the goal. Without a shared vision of America, we cannot achieve unity.
In order for us to join together, we need to find common ground on which to stand. In order to do that, we need to admit that no one is neutral.
We all seek to believe in truth and reject falsehood. In other words, everyone has a worldview. Worldviews are the way that we interpret the world after we pre-suppose our foundational truth. I pre-suppose that God made the world, that He made us male and female, and that he gave us dominion over the earth. I pre-suppose that we are given a world to live in with immutable laws to govern us.
I recognize that we do not choose our hometown, gender, height, skin color, etc. Despite all of these natural-born differences, we are all equal, because we bear the image of God.
I believe that these are principles that we can actually unify around, just as the early Americans did. You may not like this, but if you want unity, you must provide another worldview, that allows us to all look at one another and recognize their dignity and worth.
If unity is what we seek, we must be clear about our givens. Furthermore, if unity is the goal, then we must live in a shared reality. There are many facts of life that we must simply accept, but when we live within the parameters of reality, we will find that life works better.
I would love unity, but not at the cost of truth or freedom.
Unity should not require me to accept the abortion industry, despite the science showing that it is a life inside the womb. Unity should not require Christian pastors or businesses to validate homosexual marriage and violate their religious convictions. Unity should not force Catholic groups to provide birth control, – because the government forces them to, in the name of health care. Nor should it require people to be deemed racist simply because of their skin color.
These are the kinds of issues that we are not unified about, and for good reason.
Maybe we have come to the point that everyone should share their givens, clearly before mentioning the need to unify. What unity can we have if we don’t know where the other stands? What do we believe that we can unify about?
And does it require people to close their eyes and ignore the reality of the world that is before us?
Jeremy Wiggins is a columnist for The Graham Star.