Confirmation bias allows us to see only what we want to see, believe only what we want to believe and reject anything that contradicts our beliefs. Confirmation bias Christians call good evil and evil good.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” — Isaiah 5:20
Confirmation bias helps us assuage uncomfortable, negative emotions and avoid the discomfort of facing facts we don’t want to see. As a result, people who believe they are Christian deny, ignore or rationalize all the facts and scripture that contradict all the unChristian people and ideas they want to support.
Confirmation bias occurs in many aspects of our lives, and it’s more than being unable to see the splinter in our own eyes because we’re focused on the splinter in the eyes of others.
We deny facts and reality to cling to brittle beliefs. According to this article on WebMD, confirmation bias is not the only psychological tendency affecting our views.
Group attribution bias allows us to assume a member of a cultural group has stereotypical qualities of that group.
The halo effect allows one trait of someone to overshadow other aspects of a person’s life. Forgiving that Trump is asking the U.S. government to personally give him $200 million, for example, because you believe the lie that Trump is charitable and donates his salary to the government.
The backfire effect happens when facing an opposing opinion, you double down and more strongly cling to your belief. Similar to the Sunk cost fallacy, when you are too emotionally invested to change.
Confirmation bias Christians remain committed to supporting unChristian ideas and acts while ignoring the Bible.
People have selectively chosen or ignored scripture to confirm or deny beliefs for as long as there’s been a Bible.
White supremacist southerners created a separate, albeit much smaller, Bible to share with the people they enslaved, removing all references to slave independence.
But confirmation bias Christians must parse scripture even smaller, ignoring 90% of the Gospel to remain committed to Trump.
They redefine truth and mortality to rationalize the immorality and lies they excuse.
“I’m a good person,” they think. “If I support Trump, he must be a good person, too,” they reason.
“The Bible doesn’t say what it says,” they lie to themselves to justify believing lies.
Confirmation bias allows Christians to think, “at least he’s not a Democrat,” in response to the most unChristian behavior and policies this nation has ever seen.
And they do all this, rather than believe and follow Jesus.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13: 34-35
Trump supporters are confirmation bias Christians who are lost and no longer following Jesus.
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For more from Jim, follow these links:
Notes from a Sermon: How Do We Respond to the Current Culture?
Have Republicans Found Their Reichstag Moment?
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You can support Jim’s online ministry by shopping for books at Bookshop.org, where he’ll receive a commission. Thanks for your support.
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Pastor Jim Meisner, Jr. is the author of the novel Faith, Hope, and Baseball, available on Amazon, or follow this link to order an autographed copy. He created and manages the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe.
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