God and Nature 2025 #2
|
|
By Terry Defoe
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning (Daniel 2:21, NIV).
Modern technology has fostered a revolution in communication technologies. Individuals are on the receiving end of more information than ever before, and that information is increasingly provided by partisan news sources and social media with problematic journalistic standards. As citizens and people of faith, we are called upon to assess the trustworthiness of all this information carefully. With A.I.-generated disinformation making inroads, the gift of discernment is more important than ever.
Dissonance
Researchers in the social sciences are investigating the mental gymnastics individuals use to deny or suppress information that is true but discomforting to them in some way. Confirmation bias involves the acceptance and promotion of information supporting a particular point of view while ignoring or refusing to impartially consider contradictory evidence. Discomfort caused by exposure to dissonant information is assuaged by motivationally distorted information gathering and processing (Balcetis 2008). Denial is typically motivated by emotion rather than rational thought (Clore and Gasper 2000, 39).
Denial protects a fragile ego by minimizing ideological discomfort. It is essentially a social rather than an individual phenomenon (Bardon 2019, 33). Scientifically informed policy decisions can be blunted or even rejected by a willful blindness to the truth (Musil 1994, 268–86). Challenges to comfortable but false beliefs are typically met with anger, avoidance, and interpretive bias. We human beings hate to be wrong. We do not take kindly to being challenged or contradicted. Our view of the world is regularly distorted by self-interest, peer influence, prejudice, fear, and favoritism. Denial restores a sense of peace—but at a price.
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning (Daniel 2:21, NIV).
Modern technology has fostered a revolution in communication technologies. Individuals are on the receiving end of more information than ever before, and that information is increasingly provided by partisan news sources and social media with problematic journalistic standards. As citizens and people of faith, we are called upon to assess the trustworthiness of all this information carefully. With A.I.-generated disinformation making inroads, the gift of discernment is more important than ever.
Dissonance
Researchers in the social sciences are investigating the mental gymnastics individuals use to deny or suppress information that is true but discomforting to them in some way. Confirmation bias involves the acceptance and promotion of information supporting a particular point of view while ignoring or refusing to impartially consider contradictory evidence. Discomfort caused by exposure to dissonant information is assuaged by motivationally distorted information gathering and processing (Balcetis 2008). Denial is typically motivated by emotion rather than rational thought (Clore and Gasper 2000, 39).
Denial protects a fragile ego by minimizing ideological discomfort. It is essentially a social rather than an individual phenomenon (Bardon 2019, 33). Scientifically informed policy decisions can be blunted or even rejected by a willful blindness to the truth (Musil 1994, 268–86). Challenges to comfortable but false beliefs are typically met with anger, avoidance, and interpretive bias. We human beings hate to be wrong. We do not take kindly to being challenged or contradicted. Our view of the world is regularly distorted by self-interest, peer influence, prejudice, fear, and favoritism. Denial restores a sense of peace—but at a price.
Implicit in group membership is the expectation that individuals share and defend group beliefs. |
Science Politicized
Science exists in a social and cultural context. Scientific methodology is designed to protect against confirmation bias, but a pervasive lack of scientific literacy means that many do not know or understand how scientific methodology actually works. Some insist that scientific claims should conform to common sense or to their religious traditions—in a sense, arguing that science should be kept on a short leash.
Many individuals are ideologically predisposed to be suspicious of government intervention. This concern certainly came to the fore during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, when the world was given a first-hand lesson in the power of denial to upend legitimate public policy decisions—in this case, potentially life-saving decisions.
Faith, Education, and the Media
Some Christians, unfortunately, are convinced that their faith is constantly being undermined by an elitist media and education system. The teaching of critical thinking skills is an essential part of a traditional education. Adrian Bardon describes parents opposed to the teaching of critical thinking skills in public schools because, in their opinion, it would disrupt their right as parents to socialize their children as they see fit (Bardon 2019, 303). Another concern for many parents involves the teaching of evolution in schools, which they oppose (Liu 2013).
Many people of faith are convinced that “the media” is biased against them, unaware of the fact that “the media” is made up of a large number of news outlets that exist at various points on an ideological spectrum from left to right. The arrival of the internet and social media like Facebook has brought huge changes to the way information is discovered, distributed, received, and shared. Behind the scenes, algorithms direct individuals towards topics of interest and link them with communities of like-minded folks. With a minimum of effort, individuals can align themselves with media outlets that tell them only what they want to hear.
Religion in its various manifestations has played an important role throughout human history. Religion is in tune with profound emotional needs (Jost et al. 2014, 4) such as reassurance, purpose, certainty, stability, inclusion, superiority, and protection of cultural identity. Faith calms anxiety over mortality. Some believers interpret the Bible in ways that encourage them to distrust mainline science (Geiger 2017).
An individual's political ideology typically predicts their beliefs about science. In the US during the recent pandemic, science was heavily politicized, blunting the nation's response to a very serious health crisis. Many died unnecessarily because they or their loved ones believed the pseudo-science that was being spread far and wide. The pandemic was, in and of itself, an immense challenge, but it was made more difficult and more dangerous by a virulent form of science denial. In a keynote address to the American Scientific Affiliation’s 2024 conference, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health during the pandemic (and Dr. Fauci’s boss), estimates the number of unnecessary deaths at more than 230,000 (American Scientific Affiliation 2024).
Social Factors
Individuals are attracted to groups that share their worldview. Implicit in group membership is the expectation that individuals share and defend group beliefs. If we conform to our particular group and its standards, our standing is enhanced (Kahan 2012). Social pressure rewards conformity. Individuals are reluctant to change their minds when it comes to ideologically charged issues. As we have seen, social factors often impede scientifically informed social policy. Thankfully, social factors also suggest solutions.
Social identity theory (Trepte and Loy 2017) proposes that an effective way to change minds is to work alongside individuals in their local contexts, promoting superordinate goals—that is, goals important to all involved. People do not want to be forced to take a stand—they do not want to be put on the spot. In these critical discussions, there is no place for condescension or overconfidence; no place for polemics.
Atmospheric scientist and evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe knows the evangelical subculture well (Von Bergen and Mannon 2020). She has discovered that people of faith will often move in a pro-environmental direction if the focus is shifted from economics to the stewardship of God’s creation (Doran 2017). Respectful conversation and gracious dialog are conducive to the expression and proper functioning of His gift of discernment.
References
American Scientific Affiliation. March 8, 2025. Francis Collins, “Come Let Us Reason Together: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust” (ASA 2024) [Video], location 2372s. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYIK_UXC4kk&t=2372s
Balcetis, Emily. 2008. “Where the Motivation Resides and Self-Deception Hides: How Motivated Cognition Accomplishes Self-Deception.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2 (1): 361–81.
Bardon, Adrian. 2019. The Truth About Denial: Bias and Self-Deception in Science, Politics, and Religion. Oxford University Press.
Clore, Gerald L., and Karen Gasper. 2000. “Feeling Is Believing: Some Affective Influences on Belief.” In Emotions and Belief: How Feelings Influence Thoughts, 10–44. Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction. New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511659904.
Doran, Chris. 2017. Hope in the Age of Climate Change: Creation Care This Side of the Resurrection. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Geiger, A. W. 2017. “5 Facts on How Americans View the Bible and Other Religious Texts.” Pew Research Center (blog). April 14, 2017. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/04/14/5-facts-on-how-americans-view-the-bible-and-other-religious-texts/.
Jost, John T., Carlee Beth Hawkins, Brian A. Nosek, Erin P. Hennes, Chadly Stern, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jesse Graham. 2014. “Belief in a Just God (and a Just Society): A System Justification Perspective on Religious Ideology.” Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 34 (1): 56–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033220.
Kahan, Dan M. 2012. “Why We Are Poles Apart on Climate Change.” Nature, August. http://www.nature.com/news/why-we-are-poles-apart-on-climate-change-1.11166.
Liu, Joseph. 2013. “Public’s Views on Human Evolution.” Pew Research Center (blog). December 30, 2013. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/.
Musil, Robert. 1994. “On Stupidity.” In Precision and Soul: Essays and Addresses, ed. and trans. Burton Pike and David S. Luft, 268–86. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Trepte, Sabine, and Laura S Loy. 2017. “Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory.” The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects, 1–13.
Von Bergen, Megan, and Bethany Mannon. 2020. “Talking Climate Faith: Katharine Hayhoe and Christian Rhetoric (s) of Climate Change.” Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture, no. 32.
Terry Defoe was educated at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia (BA, Sociology, 1978), Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon Saskatchewan (M.Div., 1982), and the Open Learning University, Burnaby British Columbia (BA, Psychology, 2003). Defoe served as a chaplain at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. He has been interested in the science-faith dialog for more than 30 years. His intellectual journey took him from young-earth creationism to an evolutionary perspective.