How We Disagree Without Losing Respect
Manage episode 518001615 series 3675469
Feeling squeezed into a corner by every conversation? We push back with a frank, funny, and steady exchange between a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who’ve made a promise: stay friends, stay curious, and keep the hard questions on the table. Together we take on the urge to be right, the fear of feeling like a fool, and the hidden role ego plays when debates turn into dead ends.
We dig into whether admitting “I might be wrong” weakens belief or actually makes it more resilient. From there, the path winds through objective truth, free will, and the slippery slope of infinite regress—without losing sight of real life. You’ll hear how we use steelmanning to argue better, why certainty often sounds like contempt, and where boundaries belong when a thinker you respect starts attacking your corner. A set of original parables—the Three Witnesses—brings morality into focus with a tough case: a stolen credit card used for diapers, three lenses on justice, and the tension between empathy and consequences.
By the end, we land on a workable stance: objective truth may exist, but none of us can stand outside our own perspective to hold it fully. That simple shift cools the room, opens space for better questions, and keeps respect alive across deep differences. If you’re hungry for conversations that honor values without surrendering nuance—on faith, skepticism, ethics, and how to live together—you’ll feel at home here.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who thinks differently, and leave a quick review to help more people find common ground. Your voice shapes where we go next.
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https://livingoncommonground.buzzsprout.com
Chapters
1. Friendship Across Divides (00:00:00)
2. Show Setup And Social Media Push (00:01:05)
3. Starting Hard Conversations Online (00:03:15)
4. Respecting People Over Being Right (00:06:54)
5. What To Do With Disagreement (00:11:33)
6. Objective Truth And Free Will (00:15:32)
7. Parables, Morality, And Agency (00:19:18)
8. Infinite Regress And First Principles (00:24:24)
9. Relativism, Values, And Boundaries (00:28:32)
10. Living With Uncertainty (00:32:12)
11. Common Ground On Truth And Closing (00:35:00)
21 episodes