Political Sectarianism vs. The Way of Jesus
On our political status quo and the kind of people Jesus calls us to be
This one time, I was teaching a group of students the parable of the good Samaritan. I tried to highlight how crazy it would have been for Jesus to tell a Jewish audience a story in which the hero was a Samaritan. To translate for my Bible-belt evangelical audience, I told them it would be like telling a story called “The Good Democrat.” Eagerly, a boy piped up, “No such thing!” I smiled and thanked him for proving my point.
I love politics. But I hate what it does to people. Or, more accurately, I hate what we let it do to us. Yet, I believe politics can be a real force for good.
But here’s the thing. Politics will only ever be as good as the people involved.
This week I finished writing a chapter about a Christian perspective on politics. In my research, something stood out to me called political sectarianism. Whatever else you want to say about our current political climate, few ideas more accurately summarize what we’re seeing today.
In 2020, a group of scholars from a variety of fields collaborated to analyze American politics. They called their diagnosis political sectarianism. The problem is more than that we disagree over ideas or policies. That has always been the case. It is a problem with how we treat one another because of those disagreements.
Scholars describe political sectarianism as having three main parts: othering, aversion, and moralization. Othering means seeing people in an opposing political group as completely different from you. It’s the belief that “those people” don’t just think differently, they are not like us at all. So, we treat people who disagree with us as strangers, or even enemies. Aversion is when you feel strong dislike or distrust toward people from the other political side, whatever else you may know about them. It goes beyond thinking they’re wrong. We assume they have bad motives. So, we don’t want to be around them, much less consider their point of view. Moralization is the most intense part. This is when we believe that our political opponents are not simply wrong about politics. We perceive them as bad people. You see your own side as morally right, and the other as morally corrupt.
When all three of these attitudes are present political disagreement turns into polarization. People care less about promoting their ideas and more about defeating their opponents. In fact, researchers have found that in today’s political climate, people’s hatred for the opposing political party is often stronger than their love for their own. This is because our politics is now largely defined by what we are against more than what we support.
To make matters worse, there is an entire industry invested in keeping things the way they are. But, perhaps that’s a discussion for another time.
This kind of political division tears communities apart. It makes it nearly impossible for people to work together, listen to each other, or solve problems. It turns politics into a kind of war where everyone picks sides, and no one trusts anyone on the other team. When everyone who disagrees with us is a political enemy, it’s no longer about politics. It’s about power, fear, and hate.
But this is precisely where the way of Jesus offers a revolutionary solution. In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus pointed out that worldly rulers dominate those under their authority. He told his disciples, "It shall not be so among you." He taught that true greatness comes from serving others, not seeking power or control. Christians should approach politics with humility, promoting the common good rather than pushing personal agendas. Following Jesus means we participate in politics not to be served, but to be servants. Even when political conflict provokes us to see others as our enemies, Jesus calls us to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44). This kind of love makes it possible to value people as God's image bearers despite deep disagreements.
What struck me most painfully was the realization that Christians are not merely susceptible to this trend. In many ways, we have been complicit in it, making it worse. We who follow the Prince of Peace, who are called to peacemakers, have too often become indistinguishable from the most vitriolic political voices. We've exchanged our birthright of transcendent love for a mess of partisan pottage.
The irony is crippling. We possess a theological framework that should immunize us against political sectarianism. Do we believe Jesus meant what he said when he told his followers to be like the Good Samaritan? Do we believe Jesus when he told us that love for God was intrinsically tied to love for neighbor?
Our understanding of human dignity (Genesis 1:27), human fallenness (Romans 3:23), and Christ's reconciling work (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) should make us the most nuanced political thinkers. Instead, many of us have become caricatures, matching the world's tribalism note for note. In more ways than we’d like to admit, we have conformed to this world—at least the part that votes like us.
The reality is that few times in our nation's history has politics been this toxic. Trust in institutions continues to plummet. Political violence is increasingly normalized. Compromise is viewed as betrayal. The "common good" seems an increasingly quaint concept from a bygone era.
This crisis is not merely political—it's spiritual. And it calls not just for better Christian political strategies but for better Christian formation. It’s not that Christians should band together under a particular banner. It’s that Christians in every political group should be salt and light for the party in which they participate. It's not that Christians need to win elections or write laws. It's that our politics desperately needs the kind of people Christians are supposed to be.
What if Christians became known as the people who listen before speaking, rather than people who only listen to the side of arguments with which they already agree?
What if Christians became known as the people who seek understanding before judgment, rather than condemning people they keep at an arm’s length lest they start to empathize?
What if Christians became known as the people who maintain convictions without demonizing opponents, rather than compromising those convictions to support those who never shared them because they promise to defeat our enemies?
What if we modeled a politics that prioritizes truth over tribal advantage, that values the vulnerable over the powerful, that seeks justice without abandoning mercy?
Then we would become the kind of people Jesus has called us to be.
We must engage in politics neither as partisan warriors nor as disengaged observers, but as faithful witnesses to a different kingdom. A kingdom where power serves rather than dominates. Where enemies are loved rather than hated. Where righteousness and justice matter more than victory and power.
This might sound like an idealistic pipedream. But the way of Jesus has always seemed unrealistic to those with their attention fixed on the storms around them.
There is so much more to this conversation than what I’ve written here. Truth be told, the severity and scope of the problem is one of the reasons why I don’t publicly write or talk much on the topic. So, I’ll end this where I started it.
The status quo of political sectarianism is the antithesis of the way of Jesus. For those of us who follow him, we should fight the tendencies of othering, aversion, and moralization. Our world desperately needs the kind of people Jesus calls us to be. God forbid that we allow politics to make us otherwise.