Who is Bias? Not Me
It was early on a Sunday morning. I was arriving at church, and upon entering, I greeted several of our leaders in the sanctuary who were preparing for worship. I was approached by a couple who had recently joined our congregation. They were prominent members in our community. The husband a public figure whose status was pretty well known amongst the congregants employment was motioning pretty demonstratively attempting to get my attention. He then proceeded to ask me a loudly voiced concern: “Pastor, what are you going to do about all these homosexuals in church? When are you going to preach a series on homosexuality?” At this point, many of those in the sanctuary now have fixed their eyes on me. As I looked him dead in the eye, my response to him was direct and loud. “After I finish preaching a series on stealing, lying, breaking the sabbath, gluttony and coveting and a few more! Immediately, I can tell I struck a nerve with him. Needless to say, the couple stayed two weeks more before withdrawing their membership. The root cause of their concern, bias!
Pragya Agarwal’s book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias tackles the prevalent issue affecting us all. Agarwal states that when it comes to bias, it can be both hidden and explicit.[1] This concerned couple was guilty of explicit bias and was egrigiously oblivious to it. Agarawal digs deeper on this thought stating, there are other explicit biases which we know and we are aware of, but there are some which we either not voice them because we think that that is going to make us look like racist or sexist or ageist or just prejudicial. [2] Agarwal references Anthony Greenwald as the ignitor of the concept of implicit bias, who debunks the assertion that humans are guided solely by explicit beliefs and by their conscious intentions [3]
As Agarwal is thorough in her argument for cognitive biases that sway us she suggests a familiar anecdote to better guide our actions and desires through System 1 and System 2 Thinking a direct parallel to Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow book. Being publicly confronted on my stance on homosexuality impromptu in front of those I lead was a difficult conversation, but one I was forced to engage in. In another book, The Leaders Guide to Unconscious Bias by Pamela Fuller, Mark Murphy and Anne Chow, I was appreciative of the trio’s suggestion concerning this, as they recommend embracing difficult conversations while remaining unbiased. A proposition they offer is listening with an open antenna. While you’re listening, you’re not imposing your views on the person. You are not trying to figure out how to get them to see it your way. [4]
Seeing things our way is a fight that causes our flesh to be forced to die daily. This is an unconscious bias that gains traction the more we become unaware. In my context as a pastor, I had to contend with bias on several fronts and with good reason. One of the biggest challenges came moving a congregation of people forward, who were highly skeptical of my administrative decisions and leadership capabilities due to prior leadership flaws and failures. On many occasions, I posed what I deemed good ideas and strategies, but these were killed before I got them off the ground. What I quickly discovered were a few faithful, longstanding members who stood at the ready to shut down any move towards progress. Hidden within them was hindsight bias. Agarwal states, hindsight bias affects our ability to learn from our experiences. When we believe that we already knew what was going to happen, we are likely to overestimate our abilities. We all tend to selectively recall information consistent with what we now know to be true as we try and impose meaning on our knowledge [5]
While the senior members of the congregation were assuredly guilty of this, time proved they would not be the only culprit. As I matured in my ministry capacity, I could recall several instances to which I could plead guilty to hindsight bias, using my previous experience as a block in preventing certain plans from going forward. The Holy Spirit was not just a teacher but would convict me in private moments, helping me to reframe my thoughts and my openness to embrace possibilities where skepticism and apprehension prevailed. As unconscious bias is prevalent in all of our lives, I was inspired to hear Agarwal share this truth: no one not even yourself can cure your bias. Anybody who does that is actually fooling you- because nobody can really cure your biases. But what we can do and the hope is that y acknowledging them, accepting them, understanding them more and being more open minded upon about them, we can start slowly minimizing them. [6]
As I think of ways to counter and deal with the various forms of unconscious bias, my mind centers on a couple of possible solutions:
1. Nueroplasticity—Nueroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to create lasting change at any age. If we authentically seek to reduce our personal biases, we should do our best to create neuroplasticity.
2. Embrace Mindfulness- Reframing our thoughts, actions, and decisions can yield positive results. This helps set us in the proper mind space and makes us cautious of bias behavior. Mindfulness should no longer be considered a nice to have for executives. it’s a must have [7]
[1] The Royak Institution Podcast: Unravelling Unconscious Bias- with Pragya Agarwal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYVOQ5NLog
[2] The Royak Institution Podcast: Unravelling Unconscious Bias
[3] Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias, (Bloomsbury Sigma Series. London ; New York: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020).16
[4] Chow, Anne, Pamela Fuller, Mark Murphy, The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams. (Skillsoft, 2021). 127.
[5] Agarwal, 195
[6] The Royak Institution Podcast: Unravelling Unconscious Bias
About the Author
Daren Jaime
11 responses to “Who is Bias? Not Me”
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Hi Daren,
Thank you for your post. Based on Agarwal’s book, which topic was most relevant to you and why?
Daren,
Thanks for sharing how this topic is relevant in your context including your own bias pitfalls. Your response to the couple at the beginning of your post reminds me a joke about a pastor who could not find his bike and was convinced that his bike was stolen and was going to preach a sermon on the 10 commandments and really focus on thou shall not steal. He preached the sermon and one of his congregants who knew about his plan asked why he didn’t seem to stress the commandment about stealing any more than the others. The pastor replied, that when he got to thou shall not commit adultery he remembered where his bike was. I know, poor joke, but ultimately both your story and the joke remind me of the Sermon on the Mount and the need to remove the speck from our own eye before trying to remove the log from our brother’s eye. Maybe in reference to our reading it would be remove your unconscious/implicit biases before trying to remove your brother’s explicit biases.
As you practice mindfulness, is there are particular reframe question you ask yourself when you sense you might have a bias toward something or someone?
Jeff, I laughed at your story. That is truly funny! When it comes to reframing, one great help is trying to intentionally see through the lens of someone else without making judgment. It’s a difficult task when you feel certainty about a subject or a matter, but this has paved the way for pausing and allowing the Spirit to help navigate what could be challenging terrain
Hi Daren, thanks for your post. As I read it, I think your response to the couple did something besides remind them of other sinful things that are just as important as the one that they worry about. Your interaction was also a lesson to the other members that judgement such as the couple expressed does not belong in the faith community. I also wonder if they were not really as worried about the actual issue they brought up as much as something bigger that they were unaware was going on. My question is, how do respond when you when you think someone is doing something that really would bring sadness to the Lord?
Diane, Thanks for your question. I try to bring people to a level of self-awareness and accountability. In the case of the homosexuals and those in the LGBTQ community, explaining this is sin has been a loving and ongoing conversation and describing how this lifestyle does bring sadness to the Lord. However, he hates the sin and loves the sinner. They know they have. a pastor who loves them as anyone else, and there is no separation or isolation in my pastoral care.
When others do things that bring sadness to the Lord, I am often led to explain how our actions and sometimes our judgment are not Godly, particularly when we feel that we are better than someone else simply because we don’t do the things others have done.
I try to redirect our eyes towards an all loving and all embracing God and call for those who love God to walk in the uncondontional love available to those who earnestly and honestly seek him. Helping others to become self-aware and make the corrective behavior that pleases God is a challenging task, but through prayer, listening, and dialogue, I can say great strides have been made. I preach you must connect before we correct. People are not as interested in what we know or think, but rather, do we care, which is a powerful starting point in my experience.
Daren, thank you for your honesty and insight. I was especially struck by the moment you described being publicly confronted and your response that broadened the conversation to include all sin. How do you continue cultivating the kind of humility and spiritual awareness it takes to lead people through their biases—especially when those biases come at you directly—and how do you personally stay open to transformation in your own thinking, like you mentioned with hindsight bias?
Hey Chad! I answered some of this in my prior response to Diane, but to hindsight bias here are my thoughts.
As a pastor, staying open to transformation in my own thinking is not only a spiritual commitment from my perspective, it is critical. I deem it a bedrock in our leadership responsibility. Hindsight bias, tends to give us the false sense that we “knew it all along,”. This false knowledge blocks curiosity and humility. Being humble opens the path to reducing bias.
One of the book’s insights highlights the fact that we often form biases based on the limited perspectives we’re exposed to. I personally make it a point and practice actively engaging with people from different backgrounds—ethnically, generationally, and ideologically.
This practice allows me to be well-rounded in my understanding, and although I/we may tend to disagree on things, having understanding can disarm certain biases that are prone to show up without making this effort.
Daren, I appreciate the difficult situation you found yourself in. I thought you handled it very well!
As you consider your ministry context, what specific strategies do you believe can help people recognize and confront their own biases, especially in a community setting?
Hi Daren – I empathize with the difficult situation you navigated through. How do you help yourself and those you lead overcome bias?
Hi Daren, thanks for the post. I wondered if you have any insight to share about implicit bias from your work as a police chaplain? Do the police possibly have helpful training to minimize bias, or…?
Hi, Daren, thank you for your post. I appreciate how you shared your experiences to elaborate on bias and its effects. You also mentioned that no one can cure themselves of bias. As a pastor and a leader, how would you advice upcoming leader to lead while at the same time keep their bias in check? Thanks again, Daren.