[Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part series examining how contemporary movements offer counterfeit community. Part 1 explores political tribalism and the MAGA movement. Part 2 will examine identity-based movements and what the gospel calls the church to be in response.]

Seven years. That’s how long Rich Logis proudly identified as a member of the MAGA movement. He attended rallies, wore the red hat, and found a sense of belonging among others who shared his political passion. Then, in 2023, something shifted. Logis began to recognize that his political identity had become more than a voting preference—it had become his tribe, his community, his identity. Today, as founder of LeavingMAGA.org, he speaks to organizations about what he calls our dangerous tendency to treat politics as “a team sport, worthy of unbreakable loyalty.”^[1]

Logis discovered what researchers are now confirming: modern political movements increasingly function less as policy coalitions and more as identity tribes. And MAGA, according to recent academic research, represents a particularly striking example of this phenomenon. A comprehensive study published in Oxford Academic’s Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics found that support for the MAGA agenda is driven primarily by symbolic politics and identity rather than substantive policy concerns or material interests. Once researchers accounted for identity-related factors, traditional explanations like economic class “had no explanatory power” in predicting MAGA affiliation.^[2]

Think about that. Membership in the movement isn’t fundamentally about policy positions, economic interests, or even ideological consistency. It’s about identity. About belonging. About being part of something larger than yourself.

In other words, it’s about finding community.

But here’s the question that should concern us: Is a crowd the same thing as a community? When political identity becomes the primary source of belonging, what are we actually finding—and what might we be losing?

Before we proceed, a note of clarification: This examination of political tribalism begins with the MAGA movement not because it’s uniquely problematic, but because it’s particularly well-documented and offers a clear case study. The phenomenon we’re exploring—the substitution of political identity for genuine community—transcends partisan lines. Progressive movements, conservative movements, single-issue advocacy groups across the spectrum all face the same temptation to offer tribal belonging rather than true community. In Part 2, we’ll examine a left-leaning movement. Our concern isn’t political; it’s pastoral. The gospel speaks prophetically to all tribal substitutes for authentic community, regardless of their ideological flavor.

The Open Signifier and the Illusion of Unity

One of the most revealing aspects of the MAGA movement is its ideological flexibility. The slogan “Make America Great Again” functions as what scholars describe as a broad, emotionally resonant phrase that different people can interpret in vastly different ways. Cultural psychologist Michael Morris explains that tribal identities often cohere around such vague messaging because it allows diverse groups to project their own meanings onto the same symbol.^[3] This strategic ambiguity enables the movement to unite disparate groups who might otherwise find little common ground. Southern evangelicals and Silicon Valley libertarians, rural factory workers and wealthy business owners, immigration hawks and free-market enthusiasts—all can rally under the same banner while imagining vastly different visions of what “great” America should look like.

This same flexibility, however, reveals something troubling about the nature of the unity being offered. When people can assign different meanings to the core message, when the ideology shifts with the leader’s latest pronouncement, when policy positions matter less than loyalty to the tribe—what exactly binds the group together?

Research suggests the answer is simple: the groups don’t actually get along. Political scientist Stephen Fowler notes that Trump “built the 2024 coalition by stacking together a number of disparate groups, both within the traditional Republican Party and Republican adjacent, that inherently don’t get along with each other and have different policy priorities that only exist because Trump is able to wrangle them.”^[4]

Remove the leader, and what remains? Not a community united by shared values, common mission, and deep mutual commitment—but a crowd held together by emotional attachment to a personality and opposition to a common enemy.

The Psychology of the Political Tribe

Why is this form of belonging so appealing? The answer lies in fundamental human psychology. We are created for community, designed by God to find our identity in relationships and shared purpose. When that God-given longing goes unmet, we look elsewhere. And political tribalism offers something that feels remarkably like community.

It provides clear boundaries—us versus them, MAGA versus anti-MAGA. It offers shared language and symbols—the red hat, the rallies, the rhetoric. It creates a sense of purpose—restoring America, defeating the opposition, protecting our way of life. It even generates emotional connection through shared experiences of rallies, online communities, and the thrill of electoral victories.

Cultural psychologist Michael Morris explains that tribal identities work by creating “a shared psychological sense of belonging to a single community.” But here’s the critical distinction: tribal belonging is based on perceived shared characteristics (race, ideology, nationality) rather than actual deep knowledge of one another. It’s about being part of a category, not being known as a person.^[5]

This is where crowd diverges from community. In a crowd, you can be surrounded by thousands who share your political views, yet remain utterly unknown. You can experience the electricity of a rally, the solidarity of shared slogans, the validation of being part of “the movement”—all while remaining fundamentally alone. The crowd provides the feeling of community without requiring the costly work of actual relationship.

True community requires more. It demands that we be known—not just as voters or activists, but as whole persons with complexities, contradictions, and struggles that don’t fit neatly into political categories. It requires shared values that go deeper than policy positions, a common mission that transcends electoral cycles, and a commitment to one another that persists when political fortunes shift.

The Counterfeit’s Appeal

Political movements like MAGA succeed because they offer a compelling counterfeit. They promise belonging without vulnerability, identity without examination, purpose without sacrifice. You can find your “people” without the messy work of being deeply known. You can experience the thrill of collective action without the daily discipline of sacrificial love. You can build your life around shared opposition to an enemy without the harder work of living for a unifying truth.

The counterfeit is especially appealing in our current cultural moment. Genuine community is costly. It requires time, vulnerability, forgiveness, patience. It demands that we stick with people even when they disappoint us, challenge us, or fail to meet our expectations. It means staying when leaving would be easier.

The political tribe, by contrast, makes belonging simple: Affirm the right positions. Display the right symbols. Denounce the right enemies. Show up at the right moments. And you’re in.

Until you’re not. Until you question the leader. Until you deviate from the party line. Until you suggest that perhaps the other side isn’t entirely evil. Then you discover how conditional the belonging really was. Ask Liz Cheney. Ask Adam Kinzinger. Ask Rich Logis.

The political tribe offers what feels like community but functions like a crowd—numbers without depth, presence without knowledge, unity without love.

The Gospel’s Radical Alternative

The church is called to offer something entirely different. Not a crowd masquerading as community, but genuine community rooted in the gospel. This distinction matters more than we might realize, because the gospel creates a community defined by radically different principles than political tribalism.

Gospel community isn’t based on shared political views, demographic characteristics, or cultural preferences. It’s based on shared union with Christ. Paul makes this staggering claim to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). The divisions that define our world—including our political divisions—are transcended by our common identity in Christ.

This means the church can include people who would never naturally be in the same room together. The MAGA supporter and the progressive activist. The immigrant and the immigration restrictionist. The Black Lives Matter advocate and the thin blue line defender. Not because we ignore our differences or pretend they don’t matter, but because we share something deeper and more fundamental than our political identities: we are all sinners saved by grace, united to Christ, indwelt by the same Spirit, members of the same body.

Gospel community is also marked by being truly known. The writer of Hebrews calls believers to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Heb. 10:24-25). This isn’t the anonymity of a rally or the surface-level interaction of political activism. It’s the intimate knowledge that comes from sharing life together—knowing each other’s struggles, carrying each other’s burdens, spurring each other toward Christlikeness.

Moreover, gospel community centers on mission rather than opposition. Political tribalism finds its energy in fighting enemies. Gospel community finds its purpose in displaying and declaring the good news of Jesus Christ. We exist not to defeat those who disagree with us but to bear witness to the One who reconciles all things to Himself.

When the Church Becomes a Crowd

But here’s where we must examine ourselves honestly: How often does the church itself function more like a crowd than a community? How often do we reduce belonging to attending services, sharing political views, maintaining appearances? How often do people sit in our pews week after week, surrounded by others, yet utterly alone—unknown and unseen?

The rise of political tribalism indicts the church. When Christians find their deepest sense of belonging in political movements rather than in the body of Christ, we should ask whether we’ve failed to offer genuine community. When believers speak more passionately about political victories than about Jesus, when our primary loyalty is to party rather than to King, when we would rather be around those who share our politics than those who share our faith—we’ve confused crowd for community.

God created us for community. The Trinity exists as an eternal community of perfect love. We are made in the image of this relational God, designed for connection, belonging, and mutual love. When the church fails to provide this, people will look elsewhere. And they’ll find counterfeits—whether in political movements, online communities, or any other tribe that promises what only the gospel can deliver.

The antidote isn’t to withdraw from politics or to pretend our political convictions don’t matter. It’s to ensure that our primary identity and deepest belonging are found in Christ and His body. It’s to build churches marked by costly love, genuine knowledge of one another, gracious embrace of those who differ from us politically, and a common mission that transcends electoral cycles.

A Different Kind of Belonging

The MAGA movement, like many political movements across the spectrum, offers a powerful counterfeit of community. It provides the feeling of belonging without requiring the depth of relationship. It creates tribal identity without calling for transformation. It unites through opposition without demanding sacrificial love.

But the church is called to something greater. We are called to be a community where people are known, not just numbered. Where unity is rooted in Christ, not in shared political ideology. Where belonging persists even when we disagree on secondary matters. Where transformation happens through the Spirit’s work, not through conformity to tribal expectations.

This is what Rich Logis discovered when he left the MAGA movement. He didn’t just need to change his politics; he needed to find his identity and belonging in something more substantial than a political tribe. He needed community, not just a crowd.

The question for the church is whether we’re offering the genuine article or settling for our own counterfeit—a crowd with religious language. Are we creating spaces where people are deeply known? Where the lonely find genuine connection? Where the gospel shapes our identity more than our politics?

In a world increasingly fractured by tribal loyalties, the church has the opportunity to demonstrate what true community looks like. Not the illusory unity of a crowd rallying around a slogan, but the costly, beautiful, transforming unity of diverse people bound together by the gospel. Not belonging based on political agreement, but fellowship rooted in shared union with Christ.

May we refuse the counterfeit and embrace the real thing. Not crowd, but community. Not tribalism, but the body of Christ.

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll examine another contemporary movement that promises community while often delivering something more like a crowd—and explore what the gospel calls the church to be in response to all forms of counterfeit belonging.

For Reflection:

• How do you distinguish between political convictions and political tribalism in your own life? When does support for a candidate or movement cross the line into identity?
• In what ways might your church inadvertently function more like a crowd than a community? Are there people who attend regularly yet remain unknown?
• What would it cost you personally to prioritize gospel community over political solidarity? Would you be willing to embrace deep fellowship with believers whose politics differ significantly from yours?
• How can you help create spaces where people experience genuine belonging based on shared identity in Christ rather than shared political views?
• Where in your life are you settling for the counterfeit of crowd belonging rather than pursuing the costly reality of true community?

Prayer Points:

• For discernment and right priorities: Pray for wisdom to recognize when political identity threatens to eclipse identity in Christ—and for courage to keep the gospel central rather than allowing any political movement to claim our ultimate loyalty.
• For genuine community in the church: Pray that local congregations would become places where people are truly known, where vulnerability is safe, where unity transcends political divisions, and where the lonely find authentic belonging in the body of Christ.
• For those ensnared by political tribalism: Pray for believers who have found their primary identity and belonging in political movements—that God would open their eyes to the counterfeit and lead them into the deeper reality of gospel community.
• For the church’s witness: Pray that the body of Christ would demonstrate such compelling community—marked by love, unity despite differences, and genuine care—that the world sees something they cannot explain apart from the gospel.

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[1] “Former MAGA member on political identity,” WXXI News, September 17, 2024, https://www.wxxinews.org/show/connections/2024-09-17/former-maga-member-on-political-identity.

[2] Rachel M. Blum and Christopher Sebastian Parker, “Exploring the Motivations of the MAGA Movement,” in Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right: Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025), https://academic.oup.com/book/60493/chapter/522480384.

[3] Katie Couric, “The 2024 Election Resulted in a Red Shift—A Cultural Psychologist Explains Why,” Katie Couric Media, March 25, 2025, https://katiecouric.com/news/politics-and-policy/how-tribalism-impacted-the-2024-election-conservative-shift/. Accessed November 19, 2025.

[4] “Podcast: What is the future of the MAGA movement without Donald Trump?” The NPR Politics Podcast, NPR, August 1, 2025, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1256575156. Accessed November 19, 2025.

[5] Couric, “The 2024 Election”.