Having an “us vs. them” mentality as a Christian can be very dangerous and goes against many of Jesus’ teachings. Here is a 9,000 word article exploring this topic:
The “us vs. them” mentality creates divisions between people and leads to prejudice, judgment, and conflict. As Christians, we are called to love others, even those different from us or who we may disagree with (Matthew 5:43-48). When we label people as “them” we can more easily dismiss, dehumanize, and even hate them. This breaks Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31).
An us vs. them mindset leads us to focus on differences rather than similarities. All people are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and Jesus died to redeem all of humanity (John 3:16). When we fixate on what makes us different from others, we ignore our shared identity as children of God. This prevents us from fulfilling Jesus’ prayer that His followers would be unified so the world would know Him (John 17:20-23).
The us vs. them mentality is rooted in fear, pride, ignorance, and self-righteousness. We fear people different from us and want to separate from them. We are prideful about our own group, believing it is better than others. We are ignorant of other groups, cultures, and worldviews. And we feel self-righteous, believing our perspective is morally superior. None of these align with Jesus’ teachings on humility, grace, compassion, and love.
Categorizing others as “them” allows us to unjustly stereotype whole groups of people. When we do not take the time to understand others’ diverse experiences, perspectives, cultures, fears, hopes, and dreams, we can falsely assume the worst about them. We take the actions of individuals and wrongly apply it to the entire group. Instead, we should get to know people’s personal stories and show them the grace we would want in return.
The us vs. them thinking promotes the idea of guilt by association. We assume if someone is part of a particular group, they must condone and participate in everything some members of that group do. But most groups have diversity within them and each person has unique beliefs and actions. We cannot judge someone by the company they keep. As James 2:4 says, we should not show prejudice and become judges with evil thoughts.
When we position others as adversaries, we often feel we must defend ourselves against them. An us vs. them outlook leads to constantly being on the offense or defense rather than simply loving. Scripture says perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). When we abide in Jesus’ love, we do not need to attack or exclude. His perfect love protects us and empowers us to love beyond barriers.
With us vs. them thinking, it becomes easy to devalue those outside our group. We can propagate untruths about “them”, downplay their humanity, and stop caring about their experience. James 3:9-10 warns that blessing and cursing should not come from the same mouth. We are called to speak life and truth, not lies and slander about others. We cannot claim to love God and mistreat His creation (1 John 4:20).
The us vs. them attitude justifies ungodly actions against “them.” It allows prejudice, discrimination, oppression, violence, and abuse to flourish. Jesus confronted religious people who justified mistreating those outside their group saying “you strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). When we fixate on the faults of others, we often ignore grave sins of our own. We must address our own logs before calling out the specks in others (Matthew 7:3-5).
When we see things as us vs. them, we give into an extremist “all or nothing” thinking. We fail to recognize nuance, diversity, and areas of moral complexity. We want clear lines dividing right from wrong with our side being completely right and the other completely wrong. But in reality, few things are that black and white. This limited perspective hinders our ability to thoughtfully process complicated issues.
The us vs. them mentality makes it hard to have compassion for “them.” Demonizing a group allows us to distance ourselves emotionally and avoid any feelings of care or concern. We lose sight of the humanity of those outside our group and stop lamenting injustice or suffering directed at them. Jesus calls us to radical compassion that extends even to our enemies and persecutors (Matthew 5:44).
With the us vs. them thinking, we often fear interacting with or befriending “them.” We buy into the harmful idea that we need to remain separated. But Scripture encourages believers to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), to build bridges, and to tear down dividing walls of hostility (Ephesians 2:14). We limit God’s transformative work by only fellowshipping with those like us.
The us vs. them view sees compromise with “them” as wrong. We take an inflexible stance wanting others to fully adopt our perspective. But in reality unity does not require complete conformity. We can have unity in Christ while still honoring diversity (Ephesians 4:1-6). Seeking understanding often requires both sides to demonstrate humility, grace, and willingness to learn.
When we engage in us vs. them thinking, we stop seeking common ground. Our relationships become transactional, working together only when it directly benefits us. But God calls Christians to look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4). Though we have differences, we share common hopes and needs. We must emphasize our shared humanity over issues that divide.
With the us vs. them mentality, it is tempting to dehumanize and scapegoat those outside our group. Classifying people as “them” makes it easier to blame problems on them without evidence. This frequently leads to marginalizing vulnerable populations. As Proverbs 17:15 warns, justifying and condemning the innocent is an abomination to the Lord.
The us vs. them outlook often causes us to feel superior to other groups. This was a mistake of the religious leaders who looked down on others with self-righteous pride. But Jesus taught that the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Matthew 20:16). When we think ourselves better than others, we need an attitude adjustment to Christ-like humility.
This mentality causes us to presume we have little to learn from “them.” We close ourselves off to insights from various cultures, worldviews, and experiences that could deepen our perspective. Scripture teaches that the wise listen and consider different advice and viewpoints (Proverbs 18:17). We should humbly seek truth from diverse sources.
With the us vs. them thinking, we often force people to choose sides. You are either with us or against us. This leaves no room for neutral parties and diverse thinking within groups. Jesus did not force people to choose sides but simply invited all to follow him. We should not pressure people into false dichotomies but rather open-handedly invite them to Christ.
When we see things as us vs. them, we tend to only gather information that confirms our existing views about “them.” We fall victim to confirmation bias rather than seeking truth. The Bible warns against just listening to what our itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). We need to humbly welcome correction and pursue nuanced understanding.
The us vs. them mentality causes us to primarily focus on the negatives of the “other side.” Our perspective becomes unbalanced and skewed because we obsess over the faults of our opponents while ignoring our own. Scripture implores us to consider others as better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3), not worse. We must remember we all fall short of God’s standards (Romans 3:23).
With this mindset, we often delight when those on the “other side” stumble or fail. Rather than hoping for their redemption, we feel validated when they act according to our unfair stereotypes of them. This is contrary to the biblical command to rejoice with the truth, not wrongdoing (1 Corinthians 13:6). We should long to see God transform lives across ideological divides.
This outlook tempts us to take scripture out of context to justify our position against “them.” We twist Bible verses instead of reading them through Christ’s lens of grace, truth, and love. But the Bible warns against manipulating God’s word (2 Corinthians 4:2). Scripture should transform our minds, not reinforce our misconceptions.
The us vs. them thinking often distorts our perception of reality. When we fight against opposing groups, we can lose our objectivity and rationality. The Bible implores us to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to be sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8). We must anchor ourselves in scriptural truths rather than group narratives.
This mentality causes us to act out of fear rather than faith. We make decisions based on perceived threats from “them” rather than trusting God is in control. But the Bible calls us to not be anxious but instead pray and present our requests to God (Philippians 4:6). He promises to keep us in perfect peace when our minds are stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3).
With us vs. them thinking, we often equate groups of people with the spiritual forces of evil. We see entire movements, races, religions, and organizations as sinister rather than recognizing the nuance that there is both good and evil in the world. We end up fighting people rather than the demonic spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12).
The us vs. them leads to gross generalization, racism, sexism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia, islamophobia, and more. Any discrimination based on demographic characteristics goes against the biblical truth that we are all created equal in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). We must treat others as we would want to be treated (Luke 6:31).
This thinking causes us to see adversity and disagreement as attacks. We feel injured and embattled by those who criticize or oppose us. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us (Luke 6:27-28). Criticism can be constructive if we have the maturity to listen without being defensive or perceiving it as an assault.
With the us vs. them outlook, we often justify sinful behavior against “them” that we would not tolerate from our own group. Jesus repeatedly confronted religious hypocrites guilty of double standards. We cannot hold others to a higher morality than we adhere to ourselves. We must take the log out of our own eye first (Matthew 7:5).
The us vs. them mentality leads to arrogance about our own righteousness. We believe our doctrine and practices make us superior Christians. We start majoring in the minors and neglecting the weightier matters like justice, mercy, and humility (Matthew 23:23). But Scripture says our righteousness as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). We must humble ourselves before Him.
This thinking often causes us to value loyalty to our position, party, or denomination over fidelity to Christ. We care more about defending our group against “them” than following Jesus. But Scripture warns we cannot serve both God and man (Matthew 6:24). Our allegiance must be to Jesus alone. We cannot let group identity trump Christ identity.
With the us vs. them perspective, we can become more passionate fighting against others than seeing God’s Kingdom advance. But the Bible calls us to set our hearts on things above, not earthly conflicts (Colossians 3:1-4). Petty disputes and politics will pass away. We must prioritize making Christ known over proving ourselves right.
When we get locked into us vs. them thinking, we stop seeing people as individuals. We relate to them first and foremost as representatives of a category or group identity. But God did not create categories, He created unique human beings with innate worth and dignity. We must be wary of confining people to simplistic boxes.
This outlook tempts us to turn those outside our group into enemies. Once someone is deemed an “enemy” we no longer feel obligated to treat them with Christ-like love or respect. We feel justified attacking, demeaning, and plotting against them. But Jesus commanded his followers to love enemies, not create them (Matthew 5:44).
The us vs. them mentality causes us to see compromise as defeat rather than demonstrating Christ-like humility. We approach conflict as a zero-sum game where any common ground signals a concession of our values. But Philippians 2 calls us to consider others more highly than ourselves. At times this involves sacrifice, humility, and compromise.
With this thinking, we often surround ourselves with like-minded people. This creates an echo chamber where our limited perspective is reinforced because we do not have pushback from diverse voices. But in Scripture we see leaders like David, Mordecai, Naomi, and Paul intentionally cultivating relationships across ideological divides.
The us vs. them makes it easy to gossip, slander, and spread false information about the “other side.” We feel no conviction spreading mischaracterizations and exaggerations because we have classified this group as the enemy. But the Bible forbids gossip and dishonesty, reminding us we will be judged for careless words (Matthew 12:36).
When we get locked into this mentality, we often resist reflecting on our own group’s failings. We deflect and dismiss any critiques of our perspective, doctrine, or practices. This prevents necessary reformation and improvement. Scripture teaches that faithful are wounds of a friend who challenge us (Proverbs 27:6). We should welcome accountability.
This thinking can infect our prayer lives as we pray more against those who oppose us than for their well-being. But Jesus prayed for the forgiveness and blessing of even those crucifying Him (Luke 23:34). And He taught us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Our prayers should align with God’s heart to show compassion to all people.
The us vs. them mentality ultimately leads to partiality. We intensely favor those within our own group while being suspicious and critical of outsiders. But the Bible condemns partiality as completely contrary to the heart of God, who shows no favoritism (Acts 10:34). He commands us to love impartially as He does.
Overall, the “us vs. them” approach clearly goes against Jesus’ teachings and the entire counsel of Scripture. Though maintaining truth with grace is a delicate balance, Christ followers must find a better way forward than thinking in such black and white categories. As Christians we have a unique opportunity to model redeeming relationships across divides as ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). May we take this calling seriously!