We have met the enemy...

One of the ways to tone down the rhetoric and engage in more civil discussion is to resist the temptation to set up an "us" vs. "them" scenario. In the "us" vs. "them" scenarios, "us" becomes the good guys and "them" are the bad guys with "good" and "bad" being seen in absolute, total terms. In other words, "we" (to change the terminology) can see only "good" in our positions while seeing only "bad" in "them". Not only does this attitude betrays a lack of understanding of the pervasive nature of sin (defined as "self-worship") that infects all of us, penetrating to every fiber of our being, but it sets up a "playing field" where no one will even listen to the "other side" because "they" have already been written off. If there is to be robust, civil discussion and debate about crucial issues, we need to resist the "us" vs. "them" mentality that ends conversations before they can even begin.