Why do good people disagree?

In 2013, my wife and I started a book club, “Spring”.  We will choose a book, or a theme, study it, make a presentation to the club, and discuss together.  The purpose of the club is to learn together to be thinking Christians, to make our faith relevant to the world, to understand and address pertinent issues in the world from the perspective of faith.  

Currently we are discussing the topic: “Why do Good People Disagree?” using Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Righteous Mind”.  The promotional pamphlet for the presentations reads:

“Good” people believe in “good” things such as love, justice, freedom, peace, joy, faithfulness, respect, sanctity, and kindness.  Why then, do we disagree so often with each other so strongly? Even violently? To the extent painting it as good against evil? With no room for compromise? What does our faith have to say about this? We will study this matter referencing Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are divided by Politics and Religion” and teachings from our faith.

Haidt’s premise is that people generally agree on the foundations of morality: care, liberty, fairness, loyalty, authority and sanctity.  That people consider all of these to be good things.  But people differ in the weightings they assign to each of these foundations.  For example, liberals tend to assign heavier weightings to care, liberty and fairness, and lighter weightings to the other three. Conservatives, on the other hand, may assign more or less the same weightings to all six foundations.  

I found the (linear) diagrams that Haidt uses informative.  But I believe a more two dimensional representation may better highlight the commonalities and differences between different groups of people.  Further more, I added a repesentation for another major group - the authoritarian - which is also very influential, and more and more so these days.  

Once we have a good understanding of the issue, we will then discuss what we can do to address this important issue that affects each and everyone of us so much these days.  

Spring book club will meet again on Sunday, October 2, 2022, 2 PM at EFCC Spring Church in Jordan, to continue to discuss this topic.  All are welcome.  Feel free to contact me for questions and more details.