{"id":28353,"date":"2022-03-10T05:14:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T13:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28353"},"modified":"2022-03-10T05:18:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T13:18:28","slug":"no-wonder-many-label-the-church-as-close-minded-bigoted-narrow-minded-or-judgmental","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/no-wonder-many-label-the-church-as-close-minded-bigoted-narrow-minded-or-judgmental\/","title":{"rendered":"No Wonder Many Label The Church as Close-minded, Bigoted, Narrow-minded, or Judgmental"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHumans are not naturally rational. Information overload is exhausting and confusing, so we filter out the noise. We only see parts of the world. We tend to notice things that are repeating, whether there are any patterns or outliers, and we tend to preserve memory by generalizing and resorting to type,\u201d<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0argued Dr. Agarwal, in her work \u201cSway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s true. Humans are a complicated and complex system of neurons, muscle, flesh, blood, and water.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to cognitive and psychological research, our brain processes over 11 million pieces of information per second. To help manage that overload, our minds make unconscious decisions so that our conscious mind can process more significant choices. Agarwal calls this \u201cSystem 1,\u201d the primarily involuntary and independent of working memory, \u201cwhich means we don\u2019t have time to experience our cognitive rational thinking. It is rapid, more subjective, and value-, context- and domain-specific.\u201d<\/span>[2]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our unconscious bias is shaped by experience, background, culture, and specified religious orientation. These things shape our beliefs, opinions, values, and way of thinking without realizing it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, \u201cSystem 2 is more rational and logical. It is mostly voluntary processing of information, detached from emotions and more controlled.\u201d<\/span>[3]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Evolutionary psychology has shown that the development of these systems is directly correlated with the need to survive and develop trust among a tribe or community of people. This is where we get the concept and the social practice of tribalism, a gathering of like-minded people who tend to cut off those who do not fit in with the customs, traditions, and belief systems of the tribe.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Agarwal argues, \u201cSocial norms underlie our gut instincts about people. Our default bias is associated with these social norms. Often bias is created when a particular object or person does not meet the normative standard in society, and our instinct is to view them with suspicion and to alienate or stigmatize them.\u201d<\/span>[4]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter how much we might like the idea of novelty, when immediately confronted with them, our bodies’ bodies kick in a stress response to this very unfamiliar situation. So long before you consciously think positively about the unfamiliar nature of what you are experiencing, your unconsciousness responds with an alert system.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our unconscious bias gives us instantaneous decisions and opinions on almost everything around us. The problem is that anthropologists have proven that our unconscious bias is wrong a lot of the time, especially when it involves rational thinking. For example, we hold an unconscious bias against certain people based on age, gender, sexuality, nationality, religious affiliation, political allegiance, economic status, or other categories.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As much as we like to think we are complex creatures with complex thoughts, opinions, and assumptions, \u201clurking\u201d in our minds is an instinct formed over time that is much harder to change.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no wonder that our society is so divided, why we subscribe to our tribal news outlets, herd towards our like-minded groups, and alienate those different from us.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the church, well, it is not immune. More often than not, the healthy theological opening of our minds to a different way of life, a different expression of humanness, or a different social arrangement, reacts in a strong stress response, questioning the validity of things that go against our norm.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What have we theologically questioned as a result of our assumptions? What have we called “biblically-based” that really was unconscious biases based on our upbringing and context? What new thing is God doing that we have closed ourselves off to with a System 1 stress response?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no wonder that many label the church as close-minded, bigoted, narrow-minded, or judgmental. This is because the church has failed to open ourselves up to God’s diverse creation, maybe intentionally and subconsciously, to what is unknown and unfamiliar.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of like Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Temple rulers who were so caught off guard by his inclusive love for the so-called sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, sick, and unwanted that the only thing knew to do was to question, condemn, and murder.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Agarwal, Pragya.\u00a0Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em>. Bloomsbury Sigma series. (London;\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

New York: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020), 30.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid, 29.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid, 30.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid, 37.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHumans are not naturally rational. Information overload is exhausting and confusing, so we filter out the noise. We only see parts of the world. We tend to notice things that are repeating, whether there are any patterns or outliers, and we tend to preserve memory by generalizing and resorting to type,\u201d[1]\u00a0argued Dr. Agarwal, in her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2252,2245,2250,2251,2246],"class_list":["post-28353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pragya-agarwal","tag-sway","tag-system-1","tag-system-2","tag-unconscious-bias","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28356,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28353\/revisions\/28356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}