Stop Demonizing The Other Side

“When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ (Ezekiel 37:18-19) 
 
Social group identity theory says that there is a tendency in group formation to brand ourselves one way (often positively) and to brand the other side another way (often negatively). I think in Ezekiel 37: 18-19, when it came to the two tribes in Israel, God wanted two sticks instead of one because he wanted to highlight that what makes us different also makes us special.  
 
We will only experience healing and unity as a people, as a community, and as a nation when we stop demonizing our differences and automatically branding those on the other side as traitors, unpatriotic, disloyal, uncle toms, socialists, and unchristian. We need to develop ways to establish healthy communication and if necessary, agree to disagree and not hate. 
 
In Ezekiel’s day, the nation became so divided because rather than respecting and honoring differences, they demonized them. Rather than seeing their cultural, ethnic, and religious differences as resources to celebrate, they saw them as reasons to divide and separate. For the nation to be healed and for the people to be united, they didn’t have to give up their uniqueness. They didn’t have to abandon their policy goals and priorities. Instead, they could come together and still have peace. Why? Because rather than seeing their situation in terms of winning and losing, they could learn to compromise to create a win-win situation for both sides. We would be wise to follow their example.