By: Adam Harris on November 14, 2024
Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay’s book “How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide ” should be required reading for high schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, and churches. I appreciate the difficult conversations these two have intentionally engaged in and the insights they have accumulated over the years about difficult conversations, changing others’ minds, and…
By: Russell Chun on November 14, 2024
言葉はささやき、行動は雷鳴のごとく。Words whisper, Actions thunder (Japanese) Part 1 Introduction, a history lesson Part 2 What my peers are saying Part 3 What I learned Part 4 Epilogue Part 1 Introduction, A history lesson Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, effectively placing over 100,000 West Coast residents…
By: Pam Lau on November 12, 2024
“Good relationships will keep you healthy and happy, healthier and happier than anything–including being right.[12] Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator, recommends using what he calls a “late night FM DJ voice during a hostage negotiation, which is a calm, soothing, and slightly downward inflected tone of voice designed to create a sense of…
By: Jennifer Vernam on November 12, 2024
I will come clean. I was the person who suggested to Jason that we read the book How to Have Impossible Conversations.[1] (HTHIC) After all, I am the person in our cohort trying to develop a methodology for leaders to facilitate conversations in which there are deep differences of opinions while maintaining community. Why wouldn’t…
By: Kim Sanford on November 12, 2024
Hi, my name is Kim. I’m an ideologue. At least, according to Boghosian and Lindsay, I think I might be. They define ideologue as “one who is unwilling or unable to revise their (moral) beliefs.”[1] And just to be clear, they portray an ideologue in, shall we say, less than complimentary terms. I found How…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 11, 2024
Let Them Be Wrong I have learned to let people be wrong. It is something that I have learned to do over time, after many failed attempts at trying to convince someone of something that they did not want to be convinced off. My sister is highly skilled at letting people be wrong. She and…
By: Scott Dickie on November 11, 2024
My title is a bit over-the-top, but it captures the direction I’d like to go in this post. But first let me address what, I suspect, many of us will recognize and wrestle with in relation to this book: Peter Boghossian is someone firmly entrenched in the atheist camp and he seems motivated to use…
By: John Fehlen on November 11, 2024
As a Christian, I would find a conversation with Peter Boghossian nearly impossible. Hmm…I wonder if there is a book on the market that could help me with this? Oh wait, Mr. Boghossian wrote one called How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. Allow me a moment of sheer snark: I think this…
By: Jenny Dooley on November 11, 2024
A Story After checking in with the apartment management office where I’m staying in Penang, Malaysia, I was asked to wait as ID cards were made. A few minutes later, I was greeted by a friendly gentleman who worked at the facility. He welcomed me to Penang and spoke of his upcoming holiday. A few…
By: Tim Clark on November 11, 2024
I was ready to be inspired when I started reading the book How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. After the first couple of chapters, it seemed like the book might be more about “how to have any conversations” than only the impossible ones because the principles and practices I started noticing in…
By: Kally Elliott on November 11, 2024
I’ve sworn off conversations about politics with my father. I haven’t told him this but I think he’s taken the hint. I’ve witnessed him trying really hard to not talk about politics with me. I can see him squirming, beginning to say something divisive (at least it is divisive from my perspective) and then stopping…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 11, 2024
I am terrified at the moral apathy, the death of the heart, which is happening in my country. These people have deluded themselves for so long that they really don’t think I’m human. And I base this on their conduct, not on what they say. And this means that they have become moral monsters…
By: Cathy Glei on November 11, 2024
Our Children’s Ministry is in the process of adopting a new curriculum. The curriculum resource we are currently using was adopted just after the pandemic. It was purchased because it fit our scope & sequence, Biblical foundation, and spiritual formation benchmarks for kids. It also had components that fit our needs during the pandemic. Currently,…
By: Esther Edwards on November 11, 2024
My daughter has two-year-old twins. It can be quite comical to see how they are learning to negotiate and converse. Without a doubt, they are beginning to see that they are not alone in the universe. The controversy is continually around what is “mine.” My toy. My food. My shoes. But skills are being taught…
By: Travis Vaughn on November 10, 2024
Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay have written a practical book that provides a framework for “communicat(ing) effectively with people who hold radically different beliefs.”[1] How to Have Impossible Conversations “teaches you how to have conversations with anyone who’s willing to speak with you, even though those people and those conversations seem impossible.”[2] And this is…
By: Dinka Utomo on November 7, 2024
My Standpoint Colonialism and slavery, in my view, are both kinds of oppression and exploitation that are carried out by a group of people or nations against other groups or nations who are weaker. Colonialism and slavery are practices that are carried out to accrue the most significant possible benefit from the people or nations…
By: Jana Dluehosh on November 7, 2024
Summary of my most deeply held convictions before the readings and why I have these beliefs. My first encounter with my whiteness occurred as a young teen when I was visiting my dad’s extended family in Michigan for a family reunion. I clearly remember sitting in a Pizza Hut as I heard my grandpa and…
By: Adam Harris on November 7, 2024
‘Yes, I got my wife’s approval for the title. This week we are supposed to write about our views and assumptions about colonialism and slavery before we read A History of Slavery by Jeremy Black[i] and Colonialism by Nigel Biggar.[ii] Pre-Reading Thoughts First, I realize our tendency with just about anything and everything is to…
By: Todd E Henley on November 7, 2024
Shame can often feel like an overwhelming and paralyzing force in our lives. As a therapist, I’ve learned to navigate my own feelings of shame, and I have come to realize that openness is key. Honestly, before delving into this topic, I had no understanding of colonialism, and my background kept me from shaming myself.…
By: Jennifer Vernam on November 5, 2024
Colonialism and Slavery- What Do I Believe and Why? I believe that humans are predisposed to try to dominate each other in a misplaced attempt to have dominion over the earth. It is an extension of our miss-ordered loves- a belief that if in charge, we can do it better, and deserve to be at…
