The new Religious Freedom Act (aka, Freedom to Discriminate)
legislation in Indiana got me thinking this morning about why human beings – or
at least a large segment of them – seem to default to distrusting others that
are different. There is always someone
to hate and mistrust: gays, blacks,
muslims, atheists, Taylor Swift. Is it
the survival instinct in our brain working on overdrive trying to find things
to be afraid of? Are these people
addicted to the chemicals the brain produces by feelings of fear and anger?
We know that all signals the brain interprets first go
through our survival system – the reptile brain – which evaluates the threat
factor of external stimuli. Is this a
threat to my survival or not? If yes,
the brain starts producing chemicals that engage the possible responses of
fight, flight or freeze. If no, the
signal is passed on to the more rational part of the brain for further
interpretation. For the most part, we
are able to let most of the occurrences in our lives through this filtering
layer so that we can then process the events more thoughtfully. Most situations we face in modern life are
not life or death, but for some, the threshold of what is a threat seems to be
low thus allowing fear and anger to dominate their lives. This becomes an addiction. Welcome to Fox News as your threat response
dope dealer!
Getting back to Indiana’s recent legislation - at a rational
level, I think one would have difficulty defending the ethics and morality of
some of the Bible’s passages on homosexuality.
Those views seem so 1st Century! Haven’t we progressed, even a little bit,
from the social views of 2000 years ago?
Of course we have, but homosexuality isn’t quite mainstream yet so the
Religious Right is putting up a fight as its views are in the death throes. Giving religious justification to
discrimination is a last desperate act, but sadly, those in power in many
states have mobilized fear and anger to a point in which they have the votes to
enact such legislation.
People who want to discriminate against others based on
their religion are simply finding phrases in religious texts that support their
views. There are plenty of passages
within the Bible that contradict the negative treatment of homosexuals and call
for love of all people, but those sentiments tend to get ignored as it’s much
easier to hate than it is to trust and love.
Negative emotions come more easily than positive ones when confronted
with differences in people, religion, and politics, yet it is the display of
positive emotions under these circumstances that reveals depth of
character. It is in a word uncommon, but
wouldn’t it be great if we could turn uncommon into common? Trust and love can leave us vulnerable to the
thoughts and whims of others, and that can be uncomfortable and possibly even
perceived as threatening to our sense of self.
However, there is power in vulnerability; it can be the foundation of
connection between two human beings.
As I come to the end of this, I’m not completely clear on
the point I’m trying to make so I’ll wrap up with this. I understand how such legislation gets
enacted. From an early age, many people
are taught to distrust those who are “different”, even fear them. That programming is not easily overridden,
and it surely won’t be changed through ridicule, boycotts, etc. Those measures may exert pressure on the
State of Indiana to reconsider their stance, but they will only further
marginalize and alienate the people who support such measures. As difficult as it may sound, a dialogue of
some nature must be established with the religious right, probably at an
individual level, to start the process of reconciliation and promoting equal
rights for all. Futile? Probably.
Perhaps the long-term strategy is to just wait for Millenials to start
governing since their level of tolerance seems much higher, but not having a
dialogue with the religious right is akin to the conservative viewpoint of “we
don’t talk to our enemies.” Can we learn
to empathize with the opponents of gay rights?
