A Story of Christian Selfishness

Published in theunmooring.org/Issue-1

The power and influence of story in the course of human history cannot be overestimated. Stories reflect societal values through which we learn about those who came before us and more importantly, ourselves. 

Stories are more revelatory in essence but they can also be transformative and have the power to connect us to others. We build relationships through the stories we tell and make connections in the shared experience. Story crosses generations—think of the Thanksgiving stories shared year after year, uniting a family. Or friends sipping wine, laughing about that thing that happened ten years ago. Stories such as these thread through our lives and connect us to one another forming beautiful intricate patterns and transforming our lives.

The best stories have a compelling protagonist that beats the odds to overcome obstacles in various forms. The protagonist usually has traits that we hold in high regard and even when they are severely flawed, their redeeming virtues allow them to overcome their inner demons—but what do we do when the story veers off course? When the redeeming virtue becomes a liability?  

This year the story we have relied upon has shifted and, like a dream that morphs into a nightmare, we were unprepared and are desperately trying to wake up into the story we had been creating before the COVID crisis. The pandemic twist in the plotline has shown us that under the shiny veneer of independence and freedom hides sickly selfishness.  In fact, the American ideology of self-interest is so prevalent that even before the pandemic, a 2013 Stanford University study revealed that “if you need an American to do something, don't mention the common good, team work or caring for others.” The propensity for independence and self-interest discovered in the study are the very character traits that we, as Americans, have held in high regard. These same traits are a liability and an encumbrance. 

The American story that defines our cultural identity flaunts values that have become terrible liabilities during a pandemic. “Land of the free and home of the brave” morphs into “land of the selfish and home of the brash” through the refusal to look out for the vulnerable with simple acts, such as mask-wearing, because of its inconvenience to an individual self. American pillars of freedom and bravery are now epitomized by egocentric and rude actions incorrectly labeled as heroic demonstrations of individualism. This has been specifically true when we examine the response to COVID-19. Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times that “What they call ‘freedom’ is actually absence of responsibility … Rational policy in a pandemic, however, is all about taking responsibility.” The COVID crisis has unmasked the American perception of freedom to reveal a lack of personal or collective responsibility. In the freshly-exposed American story, responsibility seems to extend no further than our own self-interests and freedom means only to act in whatever manner suits yourself without consideration for anyone else. 

The selfishness seen during the last nine months is a dangerous irresponsibility that Jesus warns against in the Gospel of Matthew: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Unfortunately, the self-indulgence that infects our country has also been exposed in our churches. Time and again church leaders have flagrantly disregarded the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines and recommendations by continuing to hold meetings and events even in communities where COVID-19 cases have been spiking. In shocking irreverence, Sean Feucht, an evangelist, politician and musician, held “worship events” on New Year’s Eve in vulnerable communities calling the events “Jesus Super Spreaders” bringing shame and pharisaical hypocrisy to the faith that he is brazenly representing. This brand of Christianity has become so entwined with the story of American freedom that criticism and rebuke are not possible without self-condemnation thus leaving many churches in a position of inauthentic neutrality—impotent or unwilling to speak against the corruptive self-interests disguised in the veneration of freedom and independence over faith and love. 

We are learning through one painful new cycle to the next that the story of “freedom” and “independence” that supposedly reflect the values of our society and faith does not apply to everyone. The fabled story of American freedom was scripted out of a need to cover over the sickness of selfishness with a more honorable value; however, egotism has been a cloaked tenant of the American story from the beginning. As noted by Jewish writer Elad Nehorai, “This is the philosophy of selfishness. And it’s one that has been bred in Americans since its creation. . . . A philosophy so deeply ingrained that it took the deadliest war in American history to simply begin to break the idea that whites could only prosper when they treated others like animals.” It is not our bootstraps that lift us up, as the myth has perpetuated. Sadly, we have been stepping on marginalized groups to rise up using freedom, independence and bravery to cover a wide array of inexcusable, selfish behavior, beginning with our treatment of Native People groups, through the abhorrent practice of slavery, to the formation of systemic racism that permeates all areas of society.

The confusion between independence and selfishness exists because we attribute self-seeking as an individual sin, not a cultural moral defect. Yet the Bible tells us that “for where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.” Despite the disorder in our communities revealing selfishness as a social sin, it has been too easy to label it as a personal issue which can only be addressed by the individual. However, we need to recognize that egocentric behavior is not just a personal defect but a cultural one that requires more than resolution at the individual level—it requires a new story to reshape the moral fabric of our collective culture. 

We need new values to redeem the American story, one that relies on a philosophy of consideration. A story that does not cover past mistakes by romanticizing them, but recognizes error with acknowledgement, true remorse, and repentance. If we let it, the COVID-19 nightmare can awaken an honest creativity; one where we value relationships in our community built around caring for others, not self-interest. We must reacquaint the American story to freedom and independence by adding a new chapter where our collective virtues cannot become liabilities and true liberation is for all people. In this new chapter, true liberation does not exist at the expense of others but it exists at the expense of our own selfish desires. Ultimate freedom is the selfless act of placing others' needs above your own desires creating a powerful, transformative story that mirrors the life and sacrifice of Jesus. 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

    who, though he was in the form of God,

        did not regard equality with God 

             as something to be exploited,

    but emptied himself,

        taking the form of a slave,

        being born in human likeness.

    And being found in human form, 

        he humbled himself

        and became obedient to the point of death—

        even death on a cross.

Jesus’ redemptive work on earth is the ultimate story of selflessness. It is a story that is so powerful in its ability to transform that it can redeem both the individual AND cultural moral failings of selfishness. Self-reliance as a virtue will fail us here as well, so we must find hope outside the story that we have so long relied upon. The sickness of selfishness can only be overcome when we put our reliance on Jesus as the source for transformation. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “‘America, you must be born again.’” And so we must. The old must be washed away by embracing an identity that honors others above ourselves. A story that creates a cultural identity that venerates interdependence and caring will transform our society paving the way for true freedom. 

In my heated yoga class (pre-\pandemic, of course) our instructor had us transition into a balance pose. We were nearing the end of the 90-minute class, tired and covered in sweat. The room was small and overcrowded and the teacher asked us to link arms while balancing—to disregard our individual comfort. So, dripping with sweat, we each linked arms with our neighbors to find balance collectively. We steadied each other and found that we could balance on one leg longer as a linked unit. Truly, we were stronger together than when we acted as individuals. We had to trade our freedom for consideration for the other—my weakness made strong in the other and vice versa. What if we embrace this as our American story—shaking off the chains of oppression, fear, and selfishness to link arms with our neighbor to find greater strength and support—a cult of consideration.

“Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.” 

― St. Francis of Assisi