By Mara Fitzgibbon Adams
SAU Theological Perspective
It is common knowledge that American life is becoming increasingly polarized. We are divided on many issues, not just political ones, and this tension has sometimes led to violence. Many Americans report a growing sense of anxiety and fear as we draw closer to Election Day, and the discord in our country seems to mirror even deeper levels of rupture, violence, and fear around the world.
Fear is a major theme in the Bible and is discussed in various contexts, such as fear of punishment, fear for life and safety or fear of humiliation. Sometimes, fear is viewed as something positive, such as “fear of the Lord,” but scholars note that in this context, the word “fear” is referring to a kind of awe or reverence and not dread or terror. The psalms and the prophets frequently commented on the experience of fear, as did Jesus. The common denominator in all of these biblical texts is the notion that humans are called to trust in God’s love and the assurances of protection as a way to cope with our fears.
Surely many Americans who report a sense of fear are familiar with these Scripture passages, so what is going on here? How do we face our future, tackle our problems and not let our fears lead us to destruction? For insights, we can turn to a South African Anglican bishop, and an American physician and researcher.
Desmond Tutu, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was the first Black person to serve as both the Bishop of Johannesburg and the Archbishop of Cape Town. When apartheid ended and the country struggled with the aftermath of extreme violence, Tutu served as the head of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and provided an example of how to address the deep divisions in society.
In a 1999 interview with Bill Moyers, Tutu said that he only ever preached one sermon — that all of his sermons were a variation on the idea that God deeply loves us for who we are. Tutu wanted to assure Black South Africans that in spite of their experience of oppression, God loved them and nothing was lacking in them. But Tutu said that this idea was something that white South Africans also needed to hear, as they had mistakenly believed that their worth was extrinsic, based upon their race and their social status.
Tutu frequently spoke about the dehumanizing effect of apartheid and how it wounded victims and perpetrators. He argued that white South Africans were afraid that they were unlovable by God and that this fear and guilt stemmed from the awareness of their moral transgressions. Fear breeds polarization and violence when we fail to see our deep connection with all of humanity and not just who is most like us.
Dr. Francis Collins is one of the leading biomedical researchers in the world. He headed the Human Genome project and then went on to become the longest-serving director of the National Institutes of Health, where he oversaw the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though now retired, Collins recently authored “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust.”
Collins said that his goal in writing the book was to turn the focus away from polarization over politics and direct attention to timeless sources of wisdom. In a recent PBS NewsHour interview, Collins observed that faith has “been readily pushed aside by politics” and that the problem is “we haven’t really figured out … who to trust.”
Collins argues that the antidote for dismantling the “hyper-partisanship” of our era is the truth found in both faith and science. A long-standing theme of Catholic intellectual tradition is the belief in the mutually illuminating possibilities of faith and reason. St. Augustine said that being “catholic” meant being open to the truth, wherever it was found.
This pursuit of truth is not for the faint-hearted: it requires us to be humble about our own limits, respectful when exploring the ideas of others and to have faith and trust in God’s plan for us to live in communion with others — all others, even those who challenge us. Trusting God won’t make the fear go away, but it can prevent the fear from overwhelming us.
When we foolishly conceive of God as a kind of celestial Santa Claus to whom we make our demands, it is no surprise that we are disappointed if things don’t go as we had expected. Scripture calls us repeatedly to remember God’s faithful love. God reminds us that suffering and death do not have the last word and while “weeping lasts through the night, joy comes in the morning.” The next time uncertainty causes us to doubt, may we be people of faith, trust and hope, who pause to recall God’s steadfast love, the “perfect love that casts out all fear.”
(Mara Fitzgibbon Adams, PhD, is a professor of Theology at St. Ambrose University in Davenport and a community mediator for the Eviction Diversion Program with the 14th Judicial Circuit in Illinois.)
