June 12, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“Don’t Confuse Me With the Facts...”

"My mind is already made up." Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger expressed that thought more elegantly when he wrote: "A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point." That sounds as though Dr. Festinger might have been referring to arguments over where President Obama was born, whether global warming is a reality, or if vaccination causes autism.

Actually, none of the above. He was recalling a time in the 1950’s when he and some of his colleagues were studying a group of Chicago UFO devotees who thought they were communicating with extraterrestrials. On December 21, 1954, the day the cult’s leader had said the world would end in catastrophe, Festinger and his team were with the Seekers. When the prophecy failed, after the initial shock rationalization set in. The aliens had spared the earth because of the efforts of the Seekers and their new task was to communicate to other people what they had learned.

Festinger discovered that as human beings we push threatening information away and pull friendly information toward us. We think we are "reasoning" but in fact are rationalizing. "Facts" aren’t as important as feelings. Actually, it is our basic values that drive our thinking and feelings. If we want to have helpful communication with those who differ with us, we shouldn’t try to change their minds by "facts." Instead, we should try to connect on values we hold in common.

For example, while some may not be concerned about global warming or question the scientific basis for what we believe is happening, we could talk with people of faith about how God has entrusted the world to our care. What can we do to be sure our children and grandchildren have a world to enjoy as much as we have. That is something all people of goodwill can agree upon.

Love,
Pastor Dave