Political leaders warn that the other side is destroying the country.
Newspapers portray political opponents as dangerous.
Compromise begins to look like weakness.
People increasingly believe that the future of America depends upon defeating those on the other side.
The language becomes harsher.
The anger becomes personal.
And eventually, political disagreement becomes violence.

It sounds painfully familiar.

But this isn’t America in 2026.

It’s America in 1856.

On May 22, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was sitting at his desk inside the United States Senate. Two days earlier, Sumner had delivered a fiery antislavery speech called “The Crime Against Kansas”.

He condemned the spread of slavery into Kansas and personally attacked several of its defenders, including Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Butler’s relative, Representative Preston Brooks, decided Sumner had gone too far. Brooks entered the Senate chamber carrying a heavy cane. He approached Sumner at his desk. And began beating him. Again. And again. Sumner was trapped beneath his desk as Brooks struck him repeatedly. The attack was so severe that Sumner would suffer from its effects for years.

A political argument had become physical violence. But perhaps the most disturbing part of the story came next. America couldn’t even agree about the beating. In much of the North, Sumner became a symbol of the brutality of the slave power. In parts of the South, Brooks was celebrated. The same event. Two completely different interpretations. Americans were no longer simply disagreeing about politics. Increasingly, they were living in different moral worlds.

One day before Brooks attacked Sumner, proslavery forces descended upon Lawrence, Kansas, an antislavery stronghold. Buildings were destroyed. Newspaper presses were smashed. Violence between proslavery and antislavery settlers had been escalating since passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the question of slavery’s expansion in the territories.

By June 1856, Kansas was effectively experiencing a small civil war. Congress was fighting with words. Kansas was fighting with weapons. And Americans increasingly looked across the political divide and no longer saw fellow citizens. They saw enemies. Five years later, the United States would be at war with itself.

History rarely repeats itself perfectly. America in 2026 is not America in 1856. And there is an especially important distinction here. The great political conflict of the 1850s centered on slavery. Human beings created in the image of God were being bought, sold, separated from their families, and held as property. There was no moral equivalence between slavery and freedom.

So the lesson of 1856 is not that every political disagreement has two equally righteous sides. Sometimes one side really is wrong. Sometimes evil must be confronted. Charles Sumner was right to oppose slavery. But history reveals another danger as well. We can become so convinced of the righteousness of our cause that we begin to believe almost anything is justified against those who oppose us. And that is when something begins to happen inside us.

Think about the progression. At first, someone simply disagrees with me. Then I decide that person is wrong. Then dangerous. Then evil. Eventually, I no longer ask: “How can I persuade them?” I begin asking: “How can we defeat them?” And once someone becomes my enemy, contempt becomes easier. Mockery becomes easier. Hatred becomes easier. Sometimes even violence becomes easier. Political violence rarely begins with violence. It begins much earlier. It begins when we stop seeing the person across from us as a person.

Listen to the way Americans talk about one another today. Not just politicians. Ordinary people. Neighbors. Friends. Families. Even Christians. Conservative. Liberal. MAGA. Progressive. Woke. Fascist. Socialist. Christian nationalist. Marxist.

The labels are different from 1856. The human tendency is not. Once I have labeled you, I don’t have to know you. Once I have classified you, I don’t have to listen to you. And once I decide that you are not merely mistaken but dangerous, treating you badly can begin to feel virtuous. That may be one of the most dangerous things about political hatred. It rarely feels like hatred to the person doing the hating. It feels like righteousness.

Jesus lived in a bitterly divided world. Rome occupied Judea. Some Jews cooperated with Rome. Others wanted revolution. Political and religious factions despised one another.

Into that world Jesus said:

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44 (ESV)

Jesus did not say: Pretend evil isn’t evil. He did not say: Truth doesn’t matter. He did not say: Justice doesn’t matter. He did not tell His followers never to oppose wrongdoing. He told them what they must never become while opposing it. People consumed by hatred. That distinction matters. I can oppose what you believe without hating you. I can believe you are profoundly wrong without treating you as less than human. I can fight injustice without allowing injustice to transform my own heart.

James gives us another uncomfortable warning:

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
James 3:9 (ESV)

That verse is easy to read abstractly. It becomes harder when we attach a face to it. The politician you cannot stand. The neighbor with the yard sign you hate. The family member whose political posts make you angry. The person whose vote you cannot understand. The person you believe is helping destroy the country. They are still made in the likeness of God. That doesn’t make their ideas right. It doesn’t require you to agree with them. It doesn’t even require you to remain silent when you believe something is wrong. But it does mean that contempt has no place in the heart of someone who follows Christ.

How Divided Can America Become? History has already answered that question. Very divided. Divided enough for a congressman to beat a senator inside the Capitol. Divided enough for Americans to begin killing one another in Kansas. Eventually, divided enough for Americans to go to war against one another.

The Library of Congress describes the conflict over slavery during the 1850s as bringing the United States to the brink of destruction. But perhaps How Divided Can America Become? isn’t the most important question. Perhaps the question for me is: How much hatred will I allow into my own heart?

Because I probably won’t wake up tomorrow and suddenly decide to hate someone. It happens more quietly than that. First I stop listening. Then I mock. Then I dismiss. Then I assume the worst. Then one day I look across the political divide—and I no longer see a neighbor. I see an enemy.

History warns us where that road can lead. Jesus tells us to take another road. You may believe the person across from you is terribly wrong. You may even be right. But if you have begun thinking of that person as your enemy, Jesus has already told you what to do.

Love them.
Pray for them.

And whatever happens to America, do not allow hatred to happen to you.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

#faith #trustinggod #christianity #jesuschrist #bible #seekinggodswill #truth #sanctification #godisincontrol #godhearsourprayers #salvation #providenceofGod #howdividedcanamericabecome #Matthew5:44

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