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CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
June 27th 2004
John T. Crestwell, Jr.

(Story told before sermon not included) … We are all a product of what we hear, smell, taste, and touch. We’re all a product of the environment we’re reared in; we’re all a product of the culture that influences us. We’re not as self-made as we think. When we come into contact with others, from different walks of life, it is inevitable that there will be cultural clash in some capacity.

I was watching the movie “The Last Samurai” starring Tom Cruise who plays a very disenchanted post Civil War American soldier who’s struggling with his life and with his belief in the American way. He was a war hero who had killed many Natives to the land in America on his way to helping his young country establish the new territory. Well the Japanese government calls on Cruise’s character to help modernize the Japanese army and to help them rid the country of its rouge Samurai. Anyhow, the point of the story is that Cruise’s character finds himself in the middle of a culture battle in 19th century Japan. Here, Japan is facing a new day with railroads, the telegraph, western dress codes, commerce, and gunpowder, and this clashed with the traditions of ancient Japan, a very closed-culture, a very “tight” culture. But the clash was most dramatically affected the Samurai warriors who had protected the land and people for nearly 1,000 years. Their sword represented the “power” of the people. Their code of law was the moral standard. And now the young Emperor, torn between the past and present, chooses to establish a new imperial army made up of western influenced soldiers. No Samurai. In fact wearing a sword is outlawed. This was old— primitive. Japan must be progressive, you see…

The movie has a great twist and ends with Cruise fighting with the Samurai against the Japanese army. The Samurai put up a gallant fight but swords are no match for rifles and cannons. Japan’s old way gives way to the new.

When we look at cultural clashes, we are talking about something that is technological, sociological, biological and anthropological in scope, and of course they are all interrelated.

First, from a technological standpoint, modern man is inventing faster than we can learn how to use new technologies. It’s easy to see the cultural clash with technology. One needs only to drive through the mountains of Pennsylvania where there was once an expansive coal-mining community and find it empty. Or check out the factories in Philadelphia that are mostly closed, or the rundown steel mills in Pittsburgh, there are many examples. The human mind is always striving to make a better widget. Stagnation is always at odds with innovation. The ancient is always at odds with the modern. Yesterday seems to find a way to clash with today, and today finds a way to conflict with tomorrow. My son, J.T. has a Play station and every time I turn around he wants a new game that I can’t afford. Yes, the technology is at odds with my wallet as well. Amen.

Second, there are the sociological clashes we face. I mentioned this a bit earlier. We are all a part of the human race but we are also a part of many sub-groups. As an example, we grow up a part of a family, which is a part of an ethnicity, which is a part of a tradition; which is a part of some religion, which is a part of a community, which is a part of an educational system, which is a part of a town or city, which is a part of a state, which is a part of a country. All of these things factor into our belief system. And we base our judgments on life and others on this foundational structure. We are what we eat. There is no such thing as separating the message from the man. You cannot separate the church & state inside of me, so to speak. When we are born we are on our way to developing many cultural biases and prejudices even before we can think for ourselves.

Third, there are the biological clashes. For starters, we have differences because of gender. Males are subject to certain thought processes and females are as well. And of course there are conflicts and we agree to disagree on a few, well sometimes many things. Amen. Also, there is this tension and clash at the very heart of who we are biologically. That is, when you look at the human mind, we think in polar opposites. Maybe it’s because of how are made, I don’t know, but look at yourself, you have two hands, and two feet and two eyes and two hands and two spheres to the brain (you get the point). At the core of our humanity is a sort of dualism, a fitting word that describes a battle between two sides. It’s a symbiotic relationship dual. One needs the other. We don’t live in world that says, hot, cold and lukewarm. The world we’ve created in our minds says hot or cold— black or white— right or wrong— up or down, good or bad… The philosopher Hegel described history as progressing toward perfection through the dialectic of the thesis and antithesis, the conflict of the opposites. And so, biologically, the human mind, just as it seeks to make things better all the time, is always contradicting its most recent thought. And so, perhaps our biological make-up is to blame for the clash?

Then fourthly, there are the anthropological clashes. This is closely related to the biological. Daniel Quinn says in his book Ishmael that there are two human groups, “Takers” and “Leavers”. One group lives by an aggressive agricultural expansionists mythos, while the other lives by an earth-centered tradition that is hunter-gatherer based. Quinn argues in his fictional novel, that this is based upon a clash of environmental cultures—one cold and one hot. One dealt with the cold air and evolved a mindset that said, “Store it up, get all you can while you can so we don’t starve,” while the other from the hot air fished as needed, picked figs and berries that were growing on trees, food was abundant. So, from Quinn’s perspective, what we have are bio-anthropological worldviews in conflict.

I’ve titled the sermon this morning, “CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS” a phrase I’ve heard mentioned by Naom Chomsky, a noted political scholar, as well as Samuel Huntington, author and professor Harvard University, and what I mean, is that these clashes we have as human beings are real and quite complex. There is no simple formula to figure out how to make people get along. There is not simple way to get that gentlemen who hates Iraqi’s to at least respect them. There is no “cookie cutter” plan for us to embrace as the human race.

My goal is not to sound so relative that we sit back and do nothing. It might be easy to take the low road and only deal with those who are like us. But our challenge today is that we become better human beings. That’s our call! How do we do that? I’ll get to that in a moment…

Right now, I’m thinking about this country. Given all I’ve said about clashes and the human make-up it is clear to me that we must be very careful implementing our Democracy in Iraq. It is true that our idea may be the highest ideal, but in praxis it is flawed drastically. And so the “but” is that there is the human factor that is flawed immensely. It’s not the ideas of humankind but humankind itself that is the problem. It’s not Islam that is the problem over there, it is those who implement the system; it’s not that Christianity is bad, it’s those who have control of it that make it repulsive in many areas. And so it’s not that our system of Democracy that is bad, rather I don’t have faith in those who are doing the implementing. I don’t feel they respect the inherent worth and dignity of all humanity. I don’t believe this administration truly believes in justice, equity and compassion in human relations, I just don’t believe in my heart of hearts that they want a world with peace, justice and equality for all human beings. As Ishmael said and we heard it earlier, “There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with people”. But there is certainly something fundamentally wrong with their story.

Well, where does that leave us? It’s good to deal in method and theory but without a practical application this is just Unitarian Universalist philosophy. In other words, “mombo jumbo”. Well I want to offer some solutions… First, we need to listen more, read more and think more, as Maya Angelou says. We are too reactionary. If I could get those in power to just do that, we would be well on our way. There are too many monologue mentalities, we need more dialog in the world.

Second, I’m reminded of Dr. Bell and Brother Bronner’s military stories. (I hope they won’t mind me sharing). Both of them have similar “awakening” stories. As they traveled throughout Asia they saw thousands of non-Americans living by a different code. They saw different diets, different religions, different customs. Anyhow, they have both told me how this changed their worldview. What God would condemn all of these innocent people? Life had to be bigger than one religions exclusive claim.

This is solution 2. WE ALL NEED A HEAVY DOSE OF MULTI-CULTURLSIM. We’ve gotta shed this American arrogance and learn more about other people and nationalities.

And that leads to solution three, borrowing from Dr. Bell. We must let go of superiority syndromes and understand as mentioned that systems may be superior to others but there are no superior and inferior races. This sounds like an abused point over the years but I really don’t think we get it.

The last two points go together with the others… Solution 4 is that we must develop a new story that embraces all people. We cannot accept war and bloodshed as the norm. We made the story we can change it. It never fails when my friend tells me that we are fulfilling Revelations from the Bible that I say, “I know. We created it. Many believe it and so we’re making it happen.” Perhaps in this generation and perhaps in this church can begin to say with boldness, “I’m ‘aint gonna study war no more! I’m creating a new reality that nurtures, embraces, and loves.” We have the power.

And lastly, this is no time for silence. We need more culturally diverse, open-minded thinkers in the government today. When you look at the great minds that founded the principles of the Democracy you have to think that they’re probably rolling in their graves when looking at the country and our present overseas interests. The folk who set this country apart from England as the home of the free were not interested in nation-building rather in people-building where all had the opportunity to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They were rational thinkers interested in creating, not the “us against them” mentality, but the “we are together reality.” They were liberal Deists who understood that with great power comes great responsibility. They understood that “Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!” Yes, we need more U.U. political activists!

As I close, it’s not about you or me it’s about the future, as the world continues to become a neighborhood. Dr. King said it well, “We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish as fools.” If you continuously bomb your brother or sister you will create a deep animosity and hate that will take years to fix.

I know the clashes are there. I know the conflicts are real, but there is something above all of that—the human heart. We all have the capacity to care. My heart tells me to “Do unto others as I would have them do unto me.” It’s not rocket science. It’s simple. Just care about people, the best of them and the worst of them. That’s it.

And so, as the music plays, I ask that you ponder the challenge this morning; the challenge that asks you to read more, listen more, think more and do more. Let it be so!

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