Prior to the holidays, a large segment of the population, Gen Z, said they would rather avoid political discussion altogether by just skipping family gatherings.
The Harris Poll on “political avoidance”
The Harris Poll recently surveyed over 2,000 Americans and found that around half of Gen Zers would rather skip holiday family gatherings than be confronted with a political debate. And 38% said they dreaded such gatherings. The Harris Poll called this “political avoidance.”
Gen Zers admitted that they would opt out of such gatherings if they anticipated that a contentious family member would be there, or if they thought they would have trouble controlling their emotions.
By contrast, only 20% of Gen X and Boomers felt the same way.
What does this say about us?
Okay, I get that. No one wants to argue, and no one wants the holidays sullied by political anger and division.
But even so, what does it say about us if we would rather skip a family gathering than engage with someone who disagrees with us? Understand, we are not talking about dodging abusive family members, addicts, or deviants. We are not talking about drawing boundaries for your mental and emotional well-being.
We’re just talking about avoiding disagreements. Is that a reason to avoid your family? Even the politically zealous ones?
And why Gen Z?
And it’s significant that Gen Z prefers “political avoidance” over difficult conversations. Gen Zers are postmodernists, raised in a world void of any notion of absolute truth and unmoored from objective facts. So, as a whole, Gen Z tends to lean into the narrative most likely to fit their preconceived preferences and opinions, their social media profile and their “likes” and “shares.”
Influencers coach them to believe that discomfort is abuse and disagreement is hostility.
Consequently—and this is what matters here—they haven’t been taught to think critically or to be comfortable with healthy disagreements. Our Republic was founded on the ideal that people could disagree, discuss, and together discover the truth. That’s the value of a democracy. And that requires a solid assumption that the truth is a fact to be found and that the critical skills to draw reasonable conclusions are worth cultivating.
Facts are not personal things, and getting to the truth is valuable for us all. If I am wrong about the facts, I adjust and accept the truth, and we are all better for it.
But we avoid uncomfortable discussions when we do not have the skills to handle reasoned discussions or we cannot distinguish between objective facts and our own personal concepts of “truth.”
But that applies to all of us
But let’s be honest. You don’t have to be Gen Z to take it personally when someone disagrees with you, and plenty of us lack the skills to discuss hard problems and prickly issues in an amiable and respectful way.
And every successive generation needs the previous generation to show them how it’s done. The best way to pass along the value of healthy dialogue is to practice it ourselves.
So not only for Gen Z, but for all of us, I want to advocate for those holiday family gatherings. I don’t think your political jousting match with Uncle So-and-So is a valid reason not to see Grandma this year.
So, remember this
So, if you go, remember that our culture is grounded in the ability of everyone to participate and to help solve the problems we face. But we have to talk about it to reach the truth. Even more so for Christians. If you are a Christian of any generation, you serve a higher calling than your personal preferences. So keep a biblical perspective.
To do that, remember these four things:
- You serve Christ in every relationship (1 Cor. 13:4-7).
Christians serve Christ in every relationship. Our call is not to win arguments, but to be stewards of the relationships God has put us in.
To put it another way, politicians are not Jesus. Some will come, and some will go. But your service to Christ never changes, whether your political party is at the helm or in the hedges.
That doesn’t mean you back down from the truth, but it means you treat people with respect, as created in God’s image (even if they don’t act like it). Only God knows the long-term impact that your conversations will have and your insights will provide.
- What you have in common matters most (Rom. 14:1-23).
Christians will disagree on everything from potlucks to politics. So always remember that what you have in common matters more than where you disagree. That is, if you are both saved by grace in Christ, that is your starting point. No one is more saved than someone else based on how they vote.
Remembering that fosters humility. Forgetting it cultivates pride. And pride fuels arguments.
- We can reason together (Is. 1:18, Acts 17:17).
Though fallen in sin, human beings can still reason together. In fact, the Bible assumes that critical reasoning and engaging discussions bring us to the truth, which leads us to the gospel.
So seek to reason well and think with clarity. Seek to learn and to apply sound reasoning. Avoid being emotional about things that are not personal.
How? Ask lots of questions and listen more than you talk (Prov. 2:2, James 1:19). You would be surprised the difference those two skills can make.
And by the way, the truth is not generational. It’s universal and transcends generations. If your goal is to seek and know the truth, you will also foster healthy relationships across generational lines.
- Conversations reveal your character (Gal. 5:22-23).
You cannot control how someone else behaves. But you can control you. And how you engage other people says more about your character than who’s right or who’s wrong.
So, how can you foster unity? What does it say about your character and your relationship with Christ if you fuel a political divide in your family? If you are applying Christlike character in your life, how does that show in difficult relationships?
One more thing
I have been alive for six decades, and our nation is the most politically divided it has been in my lifetime.
But God did not excuse me from relationships when politics get difficult. If anything, like you, He has called me for times just like these.
And times like these remind us that politicians are people. Flawed, sinful, egotistical, and prideful. Yeah, like us. So why would we let those people divide our families? Christians should bring unity, not division.
So go to that family gathering. Enjoy the food, hug your Grandma, and play Secret Santa. And if Uncle So-and-So starts in on you, ask questions, listen, and reason together.
Because, after all, you’ll have this family long after the politicians are gone. And besides, Christmas is not about politics. It’s about Jesus.
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors
Luke 2:14