You might have seen the cartoon:
It shows two people stranded on a desert island. The religious person prays to God to save them, while the atheist gets busy building a raft.
Yeah, I get the point – religious folks wallow in superstitions while atheists roll up their sleeves and get the work done.
But you could just as easily flip the labels around:
The atheist wallows in nihilism while despairing at the cruel fate of an uncaring universe, while the theist has faith that their makeshift raft – against the odds – will carry them to safety.
Who would I want by my side on a shipwrecked island?
An optimistic carpenter. Their faith matters less to me than that.
And it would matter less to you, too. In a variant of the famous Robbers Cave psych experiment, a group of Christian and Muslim boys united against another group of Christian and Muslim boys. When things got heated, Christians would fight alongside Muslims against Christians, just because the other group had a different name.
Tribal identities are powerful.
So powerful that the best way to override them is with other tribal identities.
Take whatever lesson you want from that.
In the meantime, figure out how to build and serve your tribes here: