Identity vs. Ideology - A Deep Dive Conversation with Matt Sheffield

 

Matt Sheffield is a former right-wing journalist, the founder of Newsbusters and the original online editor for the Washington Examiner. His right-wing credentials are irrefutable, but when he found himself rejecting the orthodox Mormon faith he was raised in and becoming agnostic, he also found himself bumping up against the power of Christian supremacy and Christian nationalism in the right-wing media sphere.

As a former fundamentalist, Sheffield has a unique perspective on the political landscape and the outsized role that Christian religious identity actually plays in the decisions that keep many Americans voting for Republican elites, despite disagreeing with them on almost every policy.

His observation that it is identity, not ideology, that explains the rise of Trump and his “appeal” to the white Christian masses, will fill in some of the missing pieces, I believe, from our understanding of why many white Christians (evangelical, mainline Protestant, and Catholic) vote the way they vote.

It reminds me of a quote from author James Clear, from his article “Why Facts Won’t Change Our Minds”:

Convincing someone to change their mind is really the process of convincing them to change their tribe. If they abandon their beliefs, they run the risk of losing social ties. You can’t expect someone to change their mind if you take away their community too. You have to give them somewhere to go. Nobody wants their worldview torn apart if loneliness is the outcome.

The way to change people’s minds is to become friends with them, to integrate them into your tribe, to bring them into your circle. Now, they can change their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially.

As Sheffield reminds us in this conversation, this is why the voices of progressive Christians are so important right now, and why it’s so critical that we have communities of radical hospitality to welcome folks in, to provide them with a new community to be a part of, in order to be able to safely transition away from the right-wing culture of Christian nationalism.

It’s also important to note, as Vahisha Hasan, Transform Network board president and executive director of Movement In Faith, reminded me this is particularly true for predominately white progressive Christian faith communities. But for Black, brown, native, and indigenous faith communities, Vahisha says, “It should not be expected for melanated impacted bodies to radically and hospitably receive folks into community who need community, while they work through having lived, voted, worked, supervised, and supported ways that resulted in our death and oppression, desecrating our identity.”

Please watch this Deep Dive conversation with Matt Sheffield to learn why, when it comes to politics, identity trumps ideology every time!

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