At the heart of ICE thuggery perpetrated by masked soldiers on our streets, at the heart of $150 billion in the new Republican budget dedicated to erecting concentration camps for immigrants, lies the issue of diversity.
This war on diversity is not new in America; it is just a new nomenclature. When Chief Justice John Roberts started dismantling the hard-earned Voting Rights Act of 1965 fifteen years ago in Shelby v Holder, he was setting the stage for the anti-DEI fervor now institutionalized in the present administration.
As a spiritual theologian, I have to say, loud and clear, that Diversity Matters. There is a reason why many people, Dr. King included, were martyred trying to fight for their rights of equality and inclusion during the civil rights battles of the 1950s and ’60s. Their sacrifices—including many teenagers spending time in jail for non-violent protest—brought us the hard-earned and blood-stained civil rights laws of 1965.
Laws that SCOTUS, under the evil leadership of Roberts, has fought to dismantle and water down. SCOTUS, like Pontius Pilate, has washed its hands of DEI while also refusing to address acts of gerrymandering.
Diversity matters. In theological language, it’s the way God made us. And the rest of creation. Creation is very diverse. Diversity is who we are as a species. Diversity is a blessing, an original blessing, part of our “innate goodness” (Aaron Stern) and the “shower of blessings” (Rob Brezsny) that pours on us daily.
Tribes also matter, and belonging to a tribe can be a wonderful and important thing. It gives us our language and cuisine and humor and hearth and at-one-ness and often our identity. And pride as a subculture. Whether one is Irish, African, Scandinavian, Chinese, Filipino, Mexican, or portions thereof, tribe is good—but Tribalism is not.
Is the current war on DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—any different from the Nazis’ insistence on a “pure” Aryan race? (Which, not incidentally, does not exist and never did.)
Diversity is good, and learning from one another and interacting with one another is good. But tribalism is dangerous and destructive. Part of wisdom is to know these things. It is good to honor diversity and creation and difference!
Otto Rank criticized Americans for confusing the line, “all men are created equal,” to mean “all men are created the same.” We are not all the same—differences abound! And that is a blessing, it is to our advantage that we can make ourselves at home in a nation where differences exist in tribe and cultural background, in ethnicities and languages and stories. We have so much to learn from one another. And to teach one another, therefore.
I can honor your African heritage and learn from it while not ignoring my own Irish and English, and Jewish roots at the same time. Curiosity is a plus and a blessing. There is so much to learn from one another and the multiple identities we carry within us, the multiple cultures manifesting and shining through us.
I first learned these lessons at West High School in Madison, Wisconsin. I learned that not all people were Catholic like my family was. And life was more interesting that way. And we grew from our differences. And the values we shared in friendships went deeper than cultural differences.
Diversity vs. the attempt to thwart it is a creation issue. Thus, creation spirituality. Creation is diverse. Sexuality is diverse. Religions are diverse. Languages, ethnicities, colors, sexual preferences, and stories are diverse.
“Vive la difference!” shout the French. Stop the war on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion!
Banner Image: “Dance Party” mural in San Luis Obispo, CA, USA. Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Otto Rank that “all men are created equal” does not mean that “all people are created the same”? What follows from that? How is a war against diversity different or the same as the ideology of a pure and Aryan nation? Do you agree in celebrating the differences—”Vive la difference”?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
5 thoughts on “Creation Spirituality vs. the Outlawing of Diversity”
Fantastic Matt!!!
I luv the Faith, Diversity, Unity!
Thanks for all you’ve share!
👍👌🙏,
Kristal Parks
Beautiful DM today on reminding us that appreciation and respect for diversity is True Spirituality and Democracy — LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS includes the Sacredness and Indwelling Presence in All Our unique physical/nonphysical Beings and elements of Our Source~Co-Creator’s ongoing evolving CREATION ENERGY in All spiritual dimensions in the Sacred Process/Flow of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT…
There is a common code, as you will know, called “The Golden Rule” – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is the bond that ties us all together and as for the rest, let us celebrate our uniqueness and the inherent Divinity within all life. “Vive la difference!” indeed.
Some people don’t seem to understand the difference between equality before the law and before God and uniformity, which is what this current political force wants–lockstep uniformity and loyalty, and there is no difference between the phony Aryan purity and the war against diversity, in my opinion, because both are/were based on the phony “science” of eugenics. Tribes that did not allow diversity ended up so inbred that they did not survive. I believe. Look at some of the European dynasties that produced all kinds of physical and mental infirmities from in- breeding. I think that we will self-extinct if we keep following this madness. Diversity is life, and to deny it leads to death.
Today, Sep 30th, here in Canada it is national “Truth & Reconciliation Day”. A day set aside for First Nations people to acknowledge the harm done to their communities, and their way of life, as we, the settler community imposed our way of life on them and tried to force the “Indian” out of them by sending their children to the residential schools – a cultural genocide inflicted on them. I am deeply humbled, firstly by reading the meditation this morning, and then spending the greater part of this day taking part in local ceremonies, as First Nations told their Truth and grieved their losses, but also celebrated the return of their culture – their language, their dances, their hospitality they shared with everyone who came out to walk the way of Truth and Reconciliation with them. Truth & Reconciliation is not just a paid day off work once a year, but a way of living every day of the year. It is a way of celebrating our differences and becoming stronger as we acknowledge each other, letting the other be ‘other’. It is sorely needed wherever injustice runs rampant. A blessed Truth & Reconciliation day to all of you.