ASM118 Agree or Disagree

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i'm sitting here it's sunday night after 9pm and uh it's the july 4th weekend so tuesday's july 4th which means uh monday is a holiday for a lot of people and that means uh that's episode won't be downloaded nearly as much as a normal episode of ask science mike so i think this will kind of be the die hards the home team the the inner circle of listeners of the program you'll notice there's no theme song doing this fireside chat style i've got less than two weeks here in this house that we've lived in for 16 years it's a time of transition in my life for sure but it's also a time of transition for our nation and our culture and i just wanted to talk through that a little bit based on what i'm seeing you know in my email box and um as always my work follows the questions you all ask i still to this day read every single yes every single email that gets sent into the show every question every comment of course i don't have time to reply but i do read them all and i've noticed a growing minority of messages that come around a single theme and i thought one comment from a man named jim on my facebook page summed it up really well and jim if you're listening i'm reading your message because it it did reach me it it meant a lot to me so jim wrote after let's see i posted a thing about the health care bill and and how from the perspective of some parents who had a child with a lot of illness that would be considered a pre-existing condition and uh and then so jim commented on that post and he said i can't remember why i follow you oh yeah it's because you used your life story to try to turn me into a democrat activist and i needed one more person telling me how to be better mike your exhibit a when i explained to people that there's a difference between dropping your fundamentalist beliefs and learning how to not think as a fundamentalist so that's the first message then i'd encourage you to go to facebook find that post that uh from june 24th and just look at the back and forth between gemiini because jim's message believe it or not was the most vehement of dozens of message in a similar tone i've received in the last month now i want to start there jim's message was the most vehement message that i received now i want you to think about that for a second i want you to think about what's normal in discourse in our country right now what is normal for public figures to receive death threats things like that and i had one person jim tell me he feels like i've shifted from talking about unprocessing or processing through doubt and skepticism into too much liberal activism which if you read the thread he did so consistently thoughtfully and there's this thing in the air right now uh well since since donald trump was elected president and i've gotten more vocal politically because i think that's important and a segment of the people that listen to this program in the liturgist podcast don't like that development they think that it's better to be quiet on political issues and to simply speak about things spiritual and i thought that way most of my life but i don't anymore why i think today if you don't speak up politically that is speaking up politically what that's heard by many people as is an endorsement of the status quo a failure to critique problems in the way that we govern ourselves and the officials that we elect and the laws that they pass becomes an endorsement of the status quo i'm asked often mike how do you reach so many young people with your work and i think it's that i'll just tell people where i stand a lot of public figures carefully curate what they say they're careful about what they say and when and how and i don't i just kind of speak my heart in my mind with all of you i try to do so as graciously as i can i do hit donald trump pretty hard sometimes but i hope you understand i'm not hitting you the listeners of this program quite the contrary there are few things i enjoy as much as the thoughtful pushback and critique i get from listeners of this program jim's message which was helpful and insightful was the most vehement message i've gotten on the topic so first yes i think it's important to talk politics because i think not talking politics is a form of talking politics and for many people processing what they believe about god part of the onus leading to their deconstruction is the marriage between american protestantism and the republican party in america that is part of what led to their deconstruction the taboo about discussing political issues actually makes them feel more distant from christianity and from the bible which by the way the bible is a deeply political book i guess what i'm saying is i hear you and i want i'm going to keep doing what i'm doing i don't know how to do anything else but i want you to catch something here if you're not talking politics that may not be received by others the way you think it has or the way it has been received in the past now is there a problem with growing intolerance and almost a fundamentalistic fervor on the left absolutely absolutely there is i was reading an article tonight to that effect and it had had merit but yeah there is a problem with a rising fundamentalism on the left and i don't want to be a part of that but i do want to be a part of critiquing and advocating for a society that is more fair and just and equitable for all people as i understand it but i don't want you to adopt my positions the reason i share my thoughts on theology my thoughts on politics my thoughts on different topics that i'm not an expert in that people ask on the program is never so you will agree with me in fact if you look at the reviews for ask science mike on itunes they have two things in common one it's almost exclusively four and five star reviews two they almost all mention that people disagree with me how wonderful is that i don't want you to agree with me i want me explaining my reasoning behind a particular issue to get you to examine your reasoning behind a particular issue to equip you to articulate why you believe what you believe and therefore to take action you believe will make the world better here's what i would love if i talk about something politically you don't agree with i'd love for you to sit down and think about why you disagree and then send me an email i'd love to read your thoughts about why i was wrong i'd love to hear that you contacted your congressperson that you wrote a letter that you visited an elected representative's office to explain what you think should be happening in america and i would be thrilled if that was in direct opposition to something i said to my congressman you see i don't want you to become a liberal political advocate but i do want to encourage you to get involved or if you think it's immoral or unethical to get involved politically to examine that belief and to be able to articulate it to send me an email and explain why because i will read it this community that we have without science mike and with the liturgist podcast i don't want it ever to be structured around common political belief or common theological belief i want it to be centered around the fact that we don't judge other people for being where they are and i want it to be a place that is safe to explore new thoughts and new ideas including those that i don't approve of as long as the animating belief behind your theology and your politics is the flourishing and edification of other people as long as the core idea behind your gospel is to be a good neighbor and to love god i'm for it and and excuse me even for using such churchy language for my non-religious and atheist friends listening but i don't worry so much about humanism on those points i guess what i'm saying the world is changing the world is changing and there's a lot of people who i am intentionally trying to reach with a message of solidarity and acceptance the percentage of listeners on this program who are of a differing sexual orientation or gender identity has gone up dramatically since it's launched the percentage of this audience which is non-white has grown dramatically since the program launched by every conceivable metric ethnic racial gender identity orientation political affiliation political identity heck gender by every metric this audience has both grown dramatically and gotten more diverse over time and i think i actually think that's because i speak out on justice issues so here's what i would say one if i just stress you out every week filter me out if it's on the podcast we don't talk politics as much on the podcast but if the podcast is like just boiling your blood and it's not causing you to grow just hit unsubscribe for a while maybe you never come back maybe you do that's okay if the podcast is fine but my social media is just too pinko liberal weirdo for you that's fine unfollow me it's okay it's okay but whatever you do my hope for you my prayer for you is that you would grow and honestly i would prefer that you don't unfollow me why because if you disagree with me i need you the most i need you the most i don't need people who will just reinforce what i believe today i want to be challenged i want to be exposed exposed to thoughtful ideas to new perspectives to angles of reasoning and evidence that i have not considered previously that is the blessing to me of this work you know sometimes you write me and you say how can i civilly engage with people i disagree with you already know how folks because you do it with me you already know how to be civil and disagreement because you do it in your emails to me and your facebook posts to me and your five-star review that says i so often disagree with the host of this program my friends i so enjoy having you all in my life and i hope that even if my politics don't match yours that you know that and i hope that in time again you can enjoy having me in your life too be blessed my friends i'll talk to you soon