24 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY substantive, but we have an insatiable craving for insults to the other side. As much as we know we should ignore the nasty columnist, turn off the TV loudmouth, and stop checking our Twitter feeds, we indulge our guilty urge to listen as our biases are confirmed that the other guys are not just wrong, but stupid and evil.4 It is not necessarily newsworthy to mention that Americans are divided politically. One can easily observe that in social media feeds, on cable news, and in political townhalls. However, this addiction to political contempt is not just in society at large, it also is within the American Christian church. According to a recent LifeWay study, over half of Protestant church attenders desire for the rest of their congregation to share their political beliefs.5 The question to ask: is faith driving politics or politics driving faith? One could argue this has been an ongoing question throughout American history. American Christianity can be divided into two camps: (1) an individualfocused life and (2) a community-focused life. The first group sees the world and views theology through an individual-focused gospel. This group places preeminence on the individual making faith decisions that impact the individual, namely, dealing with individual sin that can only be saved through the individual placing their faith in Jesus. Not only are individuals responsible for their own salvation, but they are also charged with personally spreading the Gospel to other individuals. While being connected to a group of believers is important for this group, ultimately, this is a personal faith, expressed personally. A focus on community and communal faith defines the other group. This group ponders the following: How do our actions corporately impact others? How are we as a people responding to God? How are we bringing the kingdom of God in the here and now? While individual faith is still important, this group addresses systemic issues of the world, recognizing social sins and social callings that must be emphasized. Unfortunately, these groups are not necessarily content with allowing the “other side” to go about their faith practice, but rather, through the politicization of the faith, individually focused Christians and community-focused Christians are often antagonistic toward each
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