Being Curious
There’s one question I have found most helpful in tricky political conversations: “This seems to matter a lot to you, can you tell me more about why?” 75% of the time, the answer someone gives has nothing to do with policy details or political arguments. They’ll say something like: “My dad taught me that this was important” or tell a story about a time they were afraid or hurt and connect it back to that political issue.
Most of the time, when I ask this question, I learn more about the person and their story than I do about their politics. And they learn something too: that I care about them and their story, and that I’m curious about why they believe what they believe.
Perhaps one of the best practices we could adopt this election season is to be persistently curious. When faced with disagreement and division, we can ask questions instead of immediately rushing to argue. Instead of assuming we already know what someone means, we can ask! We might be surprised by their answers.
We probably won’t convince many people of our political positions this year. But we can learn to be more curious: about other people, about the community we live in, and about how God might be working in the midst of our brokenness.
Resources
How to ask better questions: A list of good open ended questions to ask in order to get to know someone better
Lore Wilbert’s book A Curious Faith: The Questions God Asks, We Ask, and We Wish Someone Would Ask Us:
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you asked so many questions! You asked people who they thought you were, what they wanted you to do, why they were so troubled. God, we are troubled today - with the brokenness in our world, our communities, and in ourselves. Help us to be curious, humble, and open-handed. Give us good questions to ask, and lead us towards deeper relationship with others and with you. Amen.