During this holiday season, we look forward to gathering with family and with friends, and also are accustomed to celebrating the New Year.  This year, as last, our joys are muted with uncertainty.  Our country seems divided into hostile camps; we are beset with a plague; we face economic scarcity; and we are again confronted with gross examples of racial injustice. Individually, we can’t fix this, our congregation can’t fix this; no group or party can fix this.

   When I was young, we heard many maxims.  “Don’t trust anyone over 30” seemed to die out when we turned 30.  “Speak truth to power” still has some relevance.  “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem,” while not exhibiting a lot of understanding for those weakened by oppression, bears some validity.  We can, individually and in our congregation, be part of the solution.

    Our fourth principle is a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. These are words that can free us and those we touch.  A responsible search involves setting aside our inherited biases and consciously considering evidence.   I have seen some people overcome childhood prejudices once they are exposed to people who do not conform to their demeaning stereotypes, and are able to navigate their cognitive dissidence. 

  There are those who deny facts that don’t fit into their desires.  When presented with information that stands in the way of what they wish was true, they give weight to facts that support their opinion and disregard the rest.  Election results, climate change, pandemic measures, food safety, and evolution, all have people who deny the informed consensus. 

   There are people who will support their position by citing facts (sometimes valid facts), but select their facts on the basis of which ones support what they want to be true, and exclude those inconvenient facts that do not. 

   To be the agents of change in improving our world, and our relationship to others, we must undertake the responsible search for truth, and be guided by this wisdom. 

–John Patrick O’Neill, Ph.D.