Thread by @sometimesalight

"Your culture is what you tolerate."

I ran across this statement recently & found it a really powerful explanation for how individual apathy can create an environment that enables evil & ultimately harms common good.

One of the things we struggle w/ in our modern culture is atomization: We don't understand how the actions of individuals affect the whole. And vice versa.

So you hear things like:

"If you don't believe in abortion, don't get one."

and

"Don't talk to me about reparations--my ancestors never owned anyone."

You also hear incidents of sexual abuse, political corruption, and corporate greed explained away as "bad apples"-isolated events that originate solely from the actions of individuals.

In each case, we're struggling to understand the relationship btwn the individual & the whole. We're struggling to understand where personal choice & broader culture intersect.

And in most cases, our main goal is to find the quickest way to absolve ourselves from any responsibility for the evil happening in culture around us.

As if, we were not part of culture, too.

But if "your culture is what you tolerate," then we don't have to actually engage in evil to create a environment where evil can flourish. All we have to do is tolerate it.

This is the systemic nature of evil. No, we as individuals may not be guilty of certain actions. But we are part of the community. We are part of the whole. And as such, we might be helping create a culture where evil can find safe haven.

This is why churches must give attention to rooting out predators. This is why we must take responsibility for our history of racism. This is why I continue to stand against abortion & fight systemic causes of it.

What we tolerate is our culture.

The other myth we believe (especially as evangelicals) is that we don't have a culture. That somehow we are counter-cultural, existing in a neutral space as radical individuals completely unaffected by communal forces around us.

This myth is dangerous b/c it blinds us to the cultures that we DO exist in & what sins we tolerate. It blinds us to our own complicity.

So today I'm asking myself, "What do I tolerate? What kinds of things do I overlook & excuse? Who gets a pass? In my home, in my faith community, in my country?"

Because what I tolerate is my culture.

And I am part of building my culture. My apathy, my approval, my resistance--all will either enable or disrupt evil's ability to take root. What I tolerate will become normal. What I tolerate will be the culture I help create.

One more quick thought: I think "your culture is what you tolerate" helps us understand both the limit & the power of personal choice. As individuals, we cannot take responsibility for an entire culture, but we can take responsibility for our presence in it. And we must.