Guns, Changes of Mind, and the Cost of Dialogue
My opinion on government gun policy is starting to shift. That shift fills me with dread—and the reason, I think, may say a lot about why dialogue is such a hard sell. Let’s start with [...]
How Do You Come to Your Opinions?
Think of a controversial issue in the news. More likely than not, you’ve already formed opinions about it. How did you come to those opinions? The question keeps arising for me this month, thanks to [...]
Last Weekend’s Gun Dialogue
Several days after our latest experiment in gun dialogue, I find myself both more hopeful and less hopeful. Fortunately, more hopeful is winning. Last week I posed a few basic ideas that, just maybe, every [...]
Looking for Common Ground on the Gun Debate
When it comes to guns, what can we all agree on? You may think this a fool’s question, especially if you’ve spent any time with the media (print, broadcast, social, or otherwise) in the past [...]
Breaking Through to 201: Dialogue Beyond the Basics
Does this ever happen to you? You get involved in a new endeavor—a different line of work, an unusual hobby, a new practice in your faith tradition, whatever. You read about it, talk to people [...]
When a Dialogue on Guns Breaks Out—or Two or Three
Sometimes people inspire the hell out of me. That includes some of you over the past three weeks. In my last post—shortly after the horrific shootings in Aurora, Colorado—I posed a few questions for people [...]
Questions in My Mind About Dialogue and Guns
It has been some 30 hours since the horrific shootings in Aurora, Colorado. Even 2,000 miles away, the shock is still raw. I cannot imagine the suffering that the people involved must be enduring at [...]
A Civil Letter to Sarah Palin
Marianne Williamson’s letter to Sarah Palin didn’t exactly make front-page news when it first came out. But it’s required reading for anyone who cares about dialogue. Williamson, a spiritual teacher who, by her own admission, [...]