On bias and its effect on interpretation

It’s election season, which means that presidential debates are happening and everyone is getting all fired up. Also, Rachel Held Evans just released a new book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, which is making all sorts of waves in segments of American Christianity.

It is utterly fascinating to see what people say about the *exact same* debate and the *exact same* book. Many times during the presidential debates, I saw statuses/Tweets of conservative Republicans and ardent Democrats juxtaposed on my news/Twitter feed. These updates were talking about the same part of the debate…and coming to completely opposite conclusions, every. single. time.

Certain conservative evangelical complementarian Christians have a huge problem with Rachel Held Evans’ book – they feel that her salvation is in doubt and that her book is mocking Christianity. Meanwhile, other less-conservative possibly-egalitarian still-evangelical Christians love the book and appreciate what it is trying to say.

In both of these situations, the bias is crystal clear. The conservative Christians I mentioned earlier cannot see the good in Rachel Held Evans’ book, because their paradigm makes them so biased that it is *impossible* for them to see it. In order to see the good, they would have to accept the possibility that she had something good to say – but their paradigm tells them that isn’t possible. For the Republicans and Democrats, it can be the same thing. The conservative Republican paradigm does not allow for good Democratic policies, or for Obama to want good for the US. For the more extreme Democrats, the idea that the Republican policies could be good for the country is an impossible thought.

We are all biased, of course – it’s impossible to avoid. But sometimes, bias takes on the character of absolute truth. When we use our “absolute truth” as an excuse to treat people with disdain and even hate instead of kindness and compassion, we create a horrible mess. But in too many cases, that’s exactly what happens. I think it’s time to stop the crazy and start thinking the best of others again, when at all possible.

My thoughts on gay marriage

[Post on politics and religion ahead - you have been warned.]

I’ve been pondering this post for a while, but have only now decided to write and post it. The timing seemed appropriate, what with North Carolina. Not like my view matters much in the great scheme of things, but you are reading my blog, aren’t you? ;)

I am a Christian. I might even call myself an evangelical Christian, though it’s hard to say – those terms tend to mean little, and I know I disagree with evangelical Christianity on some things. Being a conservative Christian type, I found myself needing to come to terms with the Bible and homosexuality, and what, if anything, I should be trying to do about it as a Christian in the US.

Concerning the Bible and homosexuality, so far in my life I’ve been most convinced by what the GCN folks would call the Side B argument – that homosexual activity is a sin, and Christians who are gay should live celibate lives. I know that others argue differently, and I’ve read those arguments too, but don’t find them as convincing. So, I believe that my religion says you are sinning if you engage in homosexual activity. I don’t think you are automatically condemned to hell, anymore than the straight person having sex outside of marriage is condemned to hell. You’re just messing up. I mess up all the time – I just don’t happen to mess up in that particular area. It’s not a temptation for me. If you aren’t a Christian, then what I think is a sin doesn’t really apply to you anyway. I’m not going to bash you over the head with my beliefs. I probably won’t even mention it unless it comes up.

So, what should I as a Christian in the US do about gay marriage?

NOTHING.

As a Christian in the US, a Christian who believes that homosexual activity is a sin, I think that gay marriage should be legal.

Why? Because all the social arguments against homosexual activity fall apart upon scrutiny, others were once valid but have become invalid as the definition of marriage has changed, and the other arguments are religious. Religious arguments should not be valid in creating legislation in the United States, because the United States is not a theocracy. Feel free to practice your religion all you like, but you cannot turn your religion into law unless you have other, quality, non-religious reasons for making that law. Those who are against gay marriage have yet to find such reasons. Honestly, I don’t think they will. Our culture sees marriage as being all about love and building a life together. According to that definition, there’s no good reason not to let two people of the same sex engage in civil marriage. The state will continue regulating it because that’s what they do.

Personally, I think civil marriages/unions and religious marriages/unions should be completely separated. If you want to be married and have it recognized by the state, then do that. If you want to be married and have it recognized by your religious group, then do that too. If you belong to a religious group that doesn’t recognize the union you want to enter into as a valid marriage, then you can try and change it within the group if that’s the type of group it is, or deal with it and/or leave if it isn’t. Some Christian churches are happy to recognize gay marriages as valid. Others won’t. Both should be left alone by the state.

So, there’s my 2 cents…Feel free to comment and disagree, with civility and assuming good motives on the part of others. I reserve the right to delete comments if absolutely necessary.

Why the Trayvon Martin case matters

[I'm just muddling through, trying to think out something that matters to me - but something I know little about. If I've got something wrong, please let me know, and be assured that I mean no offense.]

Recently, a tragic case has been making headlines – an African-American teenage boy named Trayvon Martin was walking back from buying Skittles and iced tea, and was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman. The watchman has not been arrested, and the police appear to have mishandled the case. You can find all the details elsewhere, along with a change.org petition, started by the Martin family, asking for the shooter to be arrested. It’s a tragedy, and I can’t imagine what Trayvon’s family is going through.

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This case brings to the fore something I was already learning – young black men have a host of negative stereotypes to fight against, and too often the stereotypes obscure the facts. In the worst cases, kids die. In more mild cases, kids are subjected to small injustices and you-aren’t-good-enoughs. If we don’t personally know any young black men, we get only hints of this. Of course, we don’t want to believe it – we’re supposed to be past this, right? So we discredit it, which perpetuates it. In some cases, we act in accordance with those stereotypes, because we’re so ignorant that we buy into it. We don’t mean to do any of these things, but we do. Then we don’t understand why these kids aren’t succeeding in life!

I say “we” for a reason – I don’t think I’ve ever crossed the street when some teenaged African-American guys have walked towards me in undershirts with their pants sagging, but I haven’t felt safe, either. Maybe it was called for, maybe it wasn’t. But maybe fear isn’t the answer in either case.

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I know this guy. He’s really great – he’s funny, kind, respectful, good with kids. He happens to be black. He happens to be the child of a single mother with little education. If he doesn’t do well at school, or if he gets accused of something, it is all too likely that he will end up not getting the academic assistance he needs, or paying the penalty for something he didn’t do. Partly because his skin color causes people to have different expectations of him. Partly because his mother may not be taken very seriously – perhaps because of her skin color, more likely because she hasn’t been equipped what she needs to be the most effective advocate for her son. The people doing this may not realize what they’re doing..but they do it anyway.

How can I help with a solution? How can I keep from becoming part of the problem?

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Please consider reading a man’s NPR article about how this is his reality and a mother’s CNN blog about how her son could be Trayvon, in which she says: “I know America is the land of liberty, but my child has to understand he’s just free-ish.”