There are certain instincts and mental tendencies that we have that get in the way of recognizing and following truth. If we are not aware of these mental barriers, they can lead us astray. This week we are going to discuss Tribalism, which is an instinct we have to give devoted loyalty to our chosen social, religious, or political groups. Tribalism served early hunter-gatherers several functions, all of which enhanced members survival. Tribalism is an instinct. Tribalism seems to be affecting everyone to some extent. I have witnessed my friends and family change over the past several years. In regard to political issues, they have become more intractable, intolerant, and even aggressive in defense of their beliefs. Some tribes have armed themselves, stockpiling guns and ammunition to battle the other tribes, or their own government, when society breaks apart. Tribalism is real, it is fracturing our world, and, in some cases, our Church.
Email - ScottRFrazer@gmail.com
Website - ScottRFrazer,com
S2E17 – Tribalism – A Barrier to Truth
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures, Season 2, Episode 19, or “Tribalism – a Barrier to Truth.
Hello everyone. This is Scott Frazer of the podcast Science and Scriptures. The next couple of podcasts are going to be a bit more political than normal. I apologize for that, since there are hundreds of political podcasts available if you really want to listen to one. However, the goal of this podcast is to point out the similarities of science in the physical world and doctrine from our spiritual world. There are certain instincts and mental tendencies that we have that get in the way of recognizing and following truth. If we are not aware of these mental barriers, they can lead us astray. This week we are going to discuss Tribalism, which is an instinct we have to give devoted loyalty to our chosen social, religious, or political groups. This attitude often conflicts with the care and concern we should have for all people, not just those we agree with. Next week we shall discuss Conspiracy Theory, the tendency our minds have in seeing correlation and conspiracies behind random and uncontrolled events. So, let’s start with the worst case of tribalism found in the scriptures.
Let’s read in 3 Nephi chapter 7, verse 14.This is when the Nephites are falling quickly into apostacy just before the Savior’s visit. The people are divided, in ways we have never seen before in the Book of Mormon.
“And it came to pass in the thirty and first year that they were divided into tribes, every man according to his family, kindred and friends; nevertheless they had come to an agreement that they would not go to war one with another; but they were not united as to their laws, and their manner of government, for they were established according to the minds of those who were their chiefs and their leaders.”
So, everyone was “divided into tribes, every man according to his family, kindred and friends”. Well, if a people are on a downward spiral into immorality and unrighteousness, this is to be expected. When a people are not united, mankind naturally gathers in tribes to assure someone you trust is covering your back. As your party’s views become more extreme, the reassurance that you have fellow extremists becomes even more important.
Also, we read in this verse that the Nephites were “not united as to their laws, and their manner of government”. It is disturbing that a people can become so divided that they refuse to recognize the authority of their central government. The Nephites apparently felt that their group’s beliefs were more important than respecting the laws of their own land. There are more than a few parallels with this attitude in today’s world.
Somewhat surprisingly, Nephi son of Nephi, was still able to perform miracles. He preached with authority, warning the people. The Nephites were looking for the sign promised by Samuel the Lamanite. However, we read,
“And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given.”
Apparently, the people were still finding time for disputations. Heaven forbid that those ever stop. Once again, the term “doubtings and disputations among the people” describe our time pretty well, don’t you think? In fact, the similarities are alarming.
Then 3rd Nephi chapter 8 rather casually reports that a severe thunderstorm broke out, the city of Zarahemla burnt down, the city of Moroni sank into the depths of the sea, and the city of Moronihah, was buried under a mountain. The divisions within the Nephite population reflected the depths of general unrighteousness. Tribes had become more important than church or central government. Political opinion had become more important than empathy or charity.
Tribalism
We should understand that humanity has a strong desire to form tribes. Tribalism is not just being in a tribe, it also means having a strong loyalty to that tribe. The word really didn’t come into common usage until about 1950, when sociologists first proposed that tribalism still has a significant effect on our culture today. Tribalism evolved as we did, in the early days of Pre-Adamic peoples.
As explained in the book Tribalism, by Ron Newby, we read,
“Tribalism served early hunter-gatherers several functions, all of which enhanced members survival. It provided groups social cohesion necessary to defend a territory from other hunter-gatherer tribes. It allowed for a cooperative environment for learning the necessary skills for survival.In today’s society, we rarely speak of ourselves as tribal, yet some of behaviors clearly are tribal. Humans naturally gravitate towards people with whom they have something in common…”
So tribes provided mutual defense, shared food, and societal interaction, which improved your chances of survival. Over the millennia, this trait was passed on and strengthened from generation to generation. Tribalism became a natural instinct, which we still follow today despite the fact that our survival is rarely threatened.
Tribalism is an instinct. Instincts are bits of knowledge passed down through your genetics which improve our likelihood of survival. A new-born baby instinctually knows to nurse. We jump at loud noises, which we believe to be dangerous. We hate the stench of rotten meat, because instinctually we know that eating it will lead to sickness and death. So what do we do with our strong tribalism instincts today? We follow them of course. Don’t be mistaken, how you were raised affects the decisions you make, as can the Spirit and prayer. But you are still strongly influenced by tribal instincts. A serious problem with instincts is that you follow them without realizing it. The goal of this podcast episode is to bring your attention to how tribalism may be affecting you. It has been found that many people’s loyalty to their tribe is more important to them than truth. Such people can be shown indisputable proof that their tribe is mistaken – and they will flatly deny what they have seen. Such denial really gets in the way of your eternal progress - because you cannot learn truth. There is a reason the scriptures are filled with encouragement to find and embrace truth. Do you have a tribal loyalty that is blocking your ability to assess truth?
Now, many people believe that Utah does not have much diversity. Don’t believe it. There are many tribes here.
We have a tribe of men and women that like to wear trucker’s hats, drive around in large pickup trucks, and listen to country music.
We have a large tribe of people who like to take their camper trailers out on summer weekends.
We have a smaller tribe of academics, many of them professors, who like to gather for social functions at the local universities.
We even have tribes of computer programmers, many of whom have just arrived over the past decade.
The largest tribe in Utah is, of course, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our Church meets all the requirements of a tribe. We have meetings, we socialize, we support one another in our difficulties. We follow a central leader. We take different roles in ministering and caring for the tribe. Our church leaders continually remind us to not be cliquish, and to invite non-members into our social groups.
I am not meaning to criticize the formation of tribes – be it a church, a social group, or a group that flies model airplanes together. But it should be recognized that tribes compete with one another for your time and attention. For example, your camping group may encourage you to stay with them in St. George through Sunday, yet your church ward would rather you attend their church services.Many church members have gone inactive in the church because they were encouraged to do so by one of their other tribes. The draw of tribes can be so strong that they overcome your personal goals of faith and duty to God.
Besides religion-based tribes, we have a number of political tribes in our country as well. The Founding Fathers wisely chose to separate church and government. They had observed in numerous European countries that having church leaders involved in political leadership led to many problems. Church doctrine should not include mandates on how the country should be governed. Political agendas should remain free from church directives. In the earliest days of Utah, Brigham Young combined church and political leadership as the president of the church and the governor of the territory of Utah from 1851 to 1857. It was a difficult time for President Young and the church. I don’t think Brother Brigham really had the temperament for politics…
Here is the point at which my podcast is going to head into Politics, which I have never really done before. I am going to generalize as much as possible, but still try to get my point across. Let’s start with defining our terms. Speaking broadly, there seems to be four political groups that exist today. Let’s call them Extreme Left, Moderate Left, Moderate Right and Extreme Right.
I won’t mention the names of politicians today, and I certainly won’t try to categorize any of them into a tribe. But there is a problem with these four tribes.They are arguing, violently at times, more than ever before. For example, it used to be that political arguments only occurred during the daylight hours. Then everyone went home to sleep. With Twitter and other social media, the sniping can go on throughout the night.
And the divisions are getting wider. There was a time when a person running for Congress would emphasize their ability to “reach across the aisle” and compromise with the other political party. Bipartisanship was valued. This is not true any longer. A person running for Congress today often campaigns on their no-compromise attitude toward – well, anyone not in their political tribe. Sadly, they are obviously following this strategy because they think their voters want such a my-way-or-nothing attitude.
This is tribalism at its worst. This approach baldly states that my tribe is so much more right in its political opinion that it dares not compromise with any other tribe. With this attitude, we consciously separate ourselves from others who happen to have different opinions. Those who disagree with you somehow become a little less human.
Social Media
Those of you who listen to my podcast know that I am not a big fan of social media. In days past, when news was unbiased, you would often read the opinions of others who didn’t agree with you. Some of these news reports and opinion pieces revealed the weaknesses in your conclusions. Despite yourself, you often saw the reasoning behind arguments that conflicted with yours. So, you would shift your beliefs a bit to accommodate this new information. There were balanced televised political debates like Face the Nation and Meet the Press to help the populace understand both sides of issues.
Being exposed to both sides of a political issue tends to bring people closer to the center. Extremists can see their extremism is not practical for a country of 329 million people nor unlikely to be accepted by the country at large. The left and right come closer to the moderate middle.
That’s not what is happening today. First, your news feed, following the dictates of your social media choices, only gives you articles like those you have read in the past. If you read an article written by a member of the Extreme Right tribe, your news feed sends you more just like it.You never read articles written by a member of a Leftist Tribe. You can easily come to believe that the Leftist Tribes are small minorities – and they don’t seem able to defend their positions – because their written news articles never show up on your news feed.
If your friends on Facebook are a good blend of members of the Extreme Left, Moderate Left, Moderate Right and Extreme Right tribes, then congratulations - you might get a good blend of comments and posts from all sides of issues. Much more commonly, however, your Facebook friends all live in your tribe with you. Our opinions, be they political, religious, or lifestyle, change as a consequence of how well they stand up in real life. If the opinions of your tribe are constantly reinforced by your newsfeed and your friends, you will become more and more certain of their truth.
I have witnessed my friends and family change over the past several years. In regards to political issues, they have become more intractable, intolerant, and even aggressive in defense of their beliefs. Their level of emotion runs high about these issues. Each issue, as we have been assured by the news and our social media friends, is a life-or-death decision for the country. If we vote the wrong way, the country is doomed to destruction and their children will be homeless. This may be due to the fact that your news feeds and social media want you to click on their articles and news reports. An agitated person is much more likely to keep on clicking than someone who is taking such stories in stride. My friend’s stress levels are much higher; I can hear it in their voices as they explain the oncoming destruction of society.
Over my longer-than-average lifetime, I have observed political clashes about shooting wars, nuclear threats, floods of refugees, etc.No offense to anyone, but many of today’s political issues seem pretty trivial. We have had backlashes and demonstrations about facemask requirements and vaccine mandates. I’m sorry, but it is difficult for me to take these two issues seriously. The vaccine is not dangerous and facemasks, though a nuisance, are not a threat to our Constitutional rights.
Another disturbing trend is the new concept of calling any data or news that disagrees with your tribe “Disinformation” or “Fake News”. Just think, using this comeback, you can never be wrong! You simply label any report that disagrees your belief a lie and then move on. By the time that references and proof can be gathered to support the truth, the news cycle has moved on. For the rest of your life you need never be wrong again. The tradeoff is that you are also completely unteachable. You will learn nothing ever again. You have been promised you can “know the truth of all things”, but you can’t with this attitude.
This approach to conflicting data reminds me of a story in the Old Testament. In Numbers 21:6, the Children of Israel were complaining again, so the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. When they repented, the Lord had Moses erect a brass serpent on a pole. A bitten person just had to look at the serpent to be healed. Apparently, many people took this announcement as “Fake News” and would not look. According to 1 Nephi 17:4 regarding the story,
“after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.”
The arguments would have been “It’s too simple.” Or “It’ll never work.” Or “I don’t want to walk all the way to the center of camp just to look at a snake statue.” The consequence of their dismissive decision was pretty severe since they died. There are no such consequences for being wrong today.
Facebook groups become more and more extreme because they ostracize anyone who strays from their belief structure. A post that is sympathetic towards a member of a foreign tribe is immediately mocked and ridiculed by the rest of the group. Offended, the perpetrator leaves - and the message is sent to the rest of the group to stay in line. The group gets more dedicated, even militant, about their beliefs. They see conspiracies all around them, all of which are bent on proving them wrong and destroying their cause. Some of these tribes have armed themselves, stockpiling guns and ammunition to battle the other tribes, or their own government, when society breaks apart. Tribalism is real, and it is fracturing our world apart.
Tribalism in the Church
The ancient church of Jesus Christ had a very diverse membership. Converted Jews, Romans, Greeks, and Samaritans made up congregations, tribes which had warred and certainly never liked one another for centuries. Paul’s missionary travels later added Turks from Galatia and Colossae. To put it simply, it was a mess. Paul’s letters in the New Testament are filled with pleas for everyone to get along with one another. The issue of circumcision certainly didn’t help the situation either, as the Jews were for it and the Gentiles decidedly against.
Today the Church has tribes as well. Though not ancient enemies, congregations are filled a host of different opinions. For example, I have some faithful church member friends who moved here from California. They have strong… Leftist beliefs… which they are not afraid to express in signs on their front yard. Their signs have been stolen or destroyed in the night. If you belong to any tribe or social group who would sanction such an act, I recommend that you seriously reconsider your membership in that tribe. The Lord has explained in D&C 121:37-38 why such attempts to control the opinions of others is a very bad idea.
“when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.”
This verse is speaking of the rights of the priesthood, but the warnings are shared equally with the women of the church. Exercising dominion, control, or compulsion comes with very severe repercussions.
The message of today’s podcast is that extreme tribalism is totally against church teachings. The church has gone to great efforts to assure the world that all people who wish to worship God are welcome in our chapels. Change is hard and physically, at least, the world is getting smaller. Peoples from all cultures, races, and political beliefs are moving into your neighborhood. When you say, “I love America”, which America are you thinking about? Because America changes every day. If you love the America of 70 years ago, you really need to update your reality.
Temple Attendance
Our Church leaders have been emphasizing temple attendance lately. I think I know the reason for that. The temple is a place of quiet, where we go to meditate, learn Gospel principles and, let me repeat, enjoy the quiet. The world has become ever noisier and noisier. There are so many tribes in the world that their leaders have to shout ever louder and more emotionally to get anyone’s attention. Your new feeds have more exclamation marks in the stories than ever before. The world is becoming ever more desperate to get and hold your attention. Tactics and conclusions are becoming ever more outlandish. We are told that the beliefs of any other tribe will cause us to lose our freedoms, lose our children, and impoverish us all. And the voices just keep getting louder and louder. We need more time in the temple simply to counter all that noise and to calmly assess our individual situations.
Above temple entrances we read, “Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord”. I would like to suggest a subtitle to this temple motto. It is a sentence taken from both Psalms and from Doctrine and Covenants 101:16. It is the best advice I can give to the Church right now. It reads,
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Wouldn’t that make a great subtitle over the temple door? As you enter this sacred building, Be Still. Still your ears, your lips, and your mind. There are no radios, no podcasts, no U-tube videos, and no news reports to assault your senses and upset your emotions. Enjoy the silence and the spirit. Secondly, Know that I am God. Know that He exists. Know that He is allowing this Probation we call Earth Life to continue as it should. Know that the future which has been predicted by the prophets will come to pass.
After you leave the temple, take the Quiet home with you. Stay off your news feed for as long as you can stand it. Sure, we all know that our phones have had us on a short tether for a long time. But before you turn your phone on again, I would invite you to make a mental list of your tribes. For me, my tribes are the church, my family, Kiwanis club, usually the Moderate Right, and my neighborhood, in that order. I am in the tribe that is vaccinated but doesn’t care if you are or not. When required, I wear a facemask, but I don’t care if you wear one or not. I have been on Facebook discussion group tribes but left them because people relied on their anonymity and took cheap shots at other’s comments. None of my chosen tribes will try to bar my membership in other tribes. None of them will try to work me up into a political lather or try to get me to lament the mere existence of other tribes.
But the same cannot be said about many other tribes in the outside world. Many of the more intense political tribes want your strict loyalty, your donations, your vote, and your time. Again, I recognize that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a tribe. The church does want your loyalty in attending Sunday services. It wants your donations in terms of tithing and fast offerings. But most of all, the Church wants to help you become a better person - more faithful, more prayerful, more tolerant, and more Christ-like. Few other tribes will encourage you in that particular effort.
As you number and prioritize the tribes to which you belong, assess whether they are bringing joy into your life. Some of the tribes I’ve read about seem to foster very stressful environments. I try hard to live the serenity prayer “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The wisdom of which it speaks is in very short supply within many of today’s tribes. The Church of Jesus Christ is trying to stay out of the fray. For good reason, it is trying to hold itself above all the bickering.
So, that is all I have for you today. As always, thanks for listening to my podcast. I hope that I have not offended anyone as I addressed the issue today. This was the most political (and blunt) podcast I’ve ever done. Next week we will discuss the human tendency to see opposition and conspiracy where there is none – yet another roadblock to our discovering truth. If you enjoyed today’s topic, or if someone you might benefit from a discussion about tribalism and the challenges it is causing today, please share this episode with them. This is Scott Frazer from the podcast Science and Scriptures. Take care and have a good week.