By: Joff Williams on April 2, 2025
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” Romans 12:3 Getting perspective The first take of the recording was over. We put our musical instruments aside and walked over to the console booth, eager and excited to listen to what the engineer had captured of…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 2, 2025
Introduction SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal[1] is a captivating exploration of the hidden biases that shape our perceptions, decisions, and interactions. Drawing from her expertise as a behavioral and data scientist, Agarwal dives into the neuroscience, psychology, and sociology behind unconscious bias, presenting a compelling narrative supported by real-world examples and scientific research.…
By: Jess Bashioum on April 2, 2025
Dr. David Rock has a refreshing, pragmatic approach in “Your Brain at Work”. He gives tangible tools that can be used to focus better and change the ways we think. I have added a lot of his ideas to my toolbelt in hopes of finding insight in the noisy and chaotic state of my brain…
By: Adam Cheney on April 2, 2025
Is a bias always wrong? If it is, and if we all have unconscious biases, then we all are constantly in a state of wrongness. Certainly, we might all agree that when a bias leads us to decisions and actions that are discriminatory then it is wrong. However, I would assert that my unconscious…
By: Rich on April 1, 2025
Listen to the question . . . pause and reflect . . . answer . . . stop talking It was 2011. I was sitting in a bland, windowless room in New Orleans, waiting to be legally deposed. I didn’t know anyone there. The corporate attorney sitting next to me was representing my employer, not…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 1, 2025
“Say buddy are yew a injun?” “Yeah, man.” “What kind?” “MEXICAN” “O, ah thot yew was a real injun.” As he proceeded to tell me (quite boringly) About his 1/64th blood quantum And his Cherokee PRINCESS grandmother; My prison-like coffee was getting cold, The bus was pulling out… And it was time to go![1] Implicit…
By: Jeff Styer on March 31, 2025
As I read Pragya Agarwal, Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias, many of the books we read since starting this program came to mind; this made it hard to decide which direction to go in writing this post.[1] For this post, I am going to define some key terms related to bias, then I am going to…
By: Ryan Thorson on March 31, 2025
“Did you really write this?” During my college humanities class on “Fairy Tales,” the professor posed this question to me. I was taking her class as part of my English Literature degree, but I had to request an extension on a paper due to an upcoming collegiate football game I was traveling for and had…
By: Glyn Barrett on March 31, 2025
“Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias”[1] by Dr Praya Agarwal, a British Indian behavioural and data scientist, author, and consultant, offers the expected “research-based” narrative on a contemporary issue of the day. Although much of her research was based prior[2] to the watershed race relations issues, which climaxed in 2020 with the killing of George Floyd, the…
By: David Weston on March 30, 2025
The older I get, the more I realize how wrong I can really be. There, I said it. Coming face to face with our humanness can sometimes feel like a punch in the face. Bobby Duffy, in his book Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding [1], does a fantastic job…
By: Noel Liemam on March 30, 2025
Introduction “Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias,” by Dr. Agarwal [1] in which she talked about ‘unconscious biases’ and how it has affected the how we communicate, how decision is made, and even how we think. She talked about how it is instilled, or ‘hardwire’ within each individual, and how it is encouraged by our surroundings, and…
By: Elysse Burns on March 27, 2025
Bias is a deeply human experience. In Sway, Pragya Agarwal explores how bias, when misdirected, can lead to prejudice and discrimination against certain groups or communities.[1] She specifically examines implicit, or unconscious, bias, distinguishing it from explicit bias, while acknowledging that both can manifest in similar ways through discrimination and injustice. Her goal is to…
By: Noel Liemam on March 23, 2025
Introduction. What is postmodernism? Postmodernism covers a broad range of topics from architecture to philosophy. In fact, it is described as, “Postmodernism is the late 20th century movement in Western philosophy marked by skepticism, subjectivism, and relativism. It challenges the idea of objective truth and emphasizes the role of ideology in shaping in shaping political…
By: Michael Hansen on March 22, 2025
On a recent phone call with a family member, I was reminded how the mind could lead someone to remember the facts incredibly wrong. This time, the topic was vehicular accidents on the interstate and road safety. Our conversation became circular. Seeking to close, I finally asked, “What leads you to believe there are more…
By: Rich on March 22, 2025
This week, I read Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy.[1] I will give a brief overview of the book, provide a self-deprecating example, and then apply the framework to the contemporary if not dry subject of federal taxation and spending. This book focuses on why people are often deluded about everyday political…
By: Debbie Owen on March 22, 2025
We arrived in Old Havana on a Saturday evening, only to find the city gripped by a nationwide power outage that had begun the previous day. The streets—full of rubble and trash, as always—were (we were told) unusually quiet, with none of the regular bustling activity you would expect in a city on a Saturday…
By: Ivan Ostrovsky on March 21, 2025
Before leaving for school, I would always ask my mom for some cash so I could buy myself a snack. I loved eating flavored crackers. I would watch my classmates eating all kinds of junk food, and I figured — if they were doing it, it must be okay for me too. This was back…
By: Julie O'Hara on March 21, 2025
Nobody knew the speakers at the district leadership retreat in October 2021. The District Superintendent who invited them had since moved on. The assembled group expected equipping for evangelism from a former pro sports athlete, but at the opening session, his wife spoke. Her topic was postmodernism and its impact on the church. Her remarks…
By: Kari on March 21, 2025
“We used their banana trees,” I responded to whether we had found a place to “faire les besoins.”[1] Our medical evangelical team was caravaning back to the city after a week in the interior. A few vehicles were delayed, so we pulled over and took advantage of the jungle around us. We had stopped in…
By: Linda Mendez on March 20, 2025
It was an unbearably hot and humid Sabbath morning in the peak of summer in El Salvador, and my father was preparing to take the pulpit. Dressed in a full suit and tie, I could only think how crazy he was for doing so. He stepped up to the pulpit and began his sermon. As…
