On Confirmation Bias

The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? So begins the hymn we call Psalm 27, a wonderful hymn of both despair and regained confidence.

Elemental Earth - Prairie Grasslands

I'm always a little uneasy about selecting a discrete passage and enlarging on it, but that's exactly what many sermons, meditations, blog posts do. Alternately, to pick a topic and scrounge around in scripture for affirmation in a supporting reference(s) has its own issues: it's called “proof texting.” A manifestation of the latter is “confirmation bias,” or picking out passages or commentaries that seem to support what we've already decided is “right,” bypassing anything that seems to lean in another direction.

What we apparently like best are the things that don't challenge—but rather support—that about which our minds are already convinced. Every preacher, teacher, writer can find corroboration supporting his/her viewpoint, even in the Bible. The fact that our favourite preacher or writer has presented something with which we heartily agree may fill us with a pleasurable emotion, but that has nothing to do with the validity of what's being presented.

Some people have asked me to refrain from emailing them my blog-post alerts; what I write may be too incompatible with their views, I guess. Others have thanked me for the same posts. For some, what I write from my understanding reinforces a similar worldview; so I could arguably be accused of writing “confirmation bias.” It's a near-tautology that every preacher, every commentator, every theologian mostly ends up “preaching to the choir.” Those for whom the messages challenge their views generally pack up and move to a church, a website, a book, or a TV channel where their biases are properly confirmed.

Although confirmation bias is still a real possibility, the best sermons for me don't arise from a selected tidbit of faith history in the Bible or other “holy book,” but rather with a glance out the window at the world we share. Certainly, good preachers and teachers and writers have obtained an education for their art that may well include intensive study of ancient writings. But beginning with a passage (as in Psalm 27, for instance) and presenting a sermon proclaiming that “God will take care of us, there's nothing to fear,” will always end up being partial-truth, maybe even wishful thinking. The experiences of the church in Acts of the Apostles or in Martyrs' Mirror should tell us that the faith has often been more like death sentence than umbrella.

Proper education and training are fundamental for the building of skills that enable pastors, teachers to guide congregations of believers toward a vision of the kingdom and their part in it. Not as it relates to the world of the long ago, but precisely to the one in which they live. An alternative approach is to pander to the biases of an audience . . . an unthinkable rabbit hole down which a pastor, writer, teacher is routinely tempted to travel.

Picture this: “Our sermon text for today was suggested by Sadie, and is taken from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, June 5, 2018 under the headline, 'Saskatoon Inundated with New Arrivals.' The reporter expresses concern that the numbers arriving as refugees may not find a place to live since the vacancy rate in the area is so low. I'd like to bring us all up-to-date on the latest information and then look at three precedents in scripture and in more recent history involving refugees and hospitality. I'll conclude with suggestions for engaging us as a congregation in the welcoming of refugees in our area in 2018. When I'm done, the ushers will pass the mike around so we may hear your insights, concerns, prayers and questions.”

Open-mindedness might be declared a virtue, but if it is, it's a virtue not easily attained. There's no such thing as pure open-mindedness, actually; biases exist fundamentally as defense mechanisms and we all develop them. But there are also such things as dialogue, study, learning—and people do adjust their thinking if they set out to be searchers, dialoguers, listeners, learners and if always being civil is a given. As a wall is both a defensive and a confining edifice, so it is with bias.

I've appreciated the metaphor by Leonard Cohen who wrote and sang: “There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in.”

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV)

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV)