One of the most powerful lessons learned in my recent diversity training with Steve Robbins is the power of asking the question, what if? I have applied that learning to the recent conversations about race and the emergent ( not necessarily emerging ) church. So here are some what ifs that I am pondering.
What if the mental model of those anglos emergents unwilling to address race issue doesn’t allow them to see how limited their world view is?
What if they are just interpreting race though a limited cultural lens?
What if they are just falling in intentional intolerance because they can’t see the other options and don’t have all the information?
What if they haven’t critically examined their point of view?
What if we are all trying too hard to be nice?
What if we all buy into sub-conscious cultural messages?
What if some of us are just closed minded?
What if some of us are open minded when we don’t feel attacked?
What if there are many other what if around this conversation that I can’t even come up with?
Tags: cultural messages, emergent, emerging church, race, racism, unintenional intolerance
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[...] with friends and be gracious to each other when we do. We need to talk about it in general and ask what if there is something shaping my perspective that I’m not conscious of. We will never get beyond [...]