Episode 28: Talking Politics and Religion Without Killing Each Other with Corey Nathan
Overview
Corey Nathan is the host of a podcast called Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killin’ Each Other. His aim is to have a home for engaging conversations about the topics that matter most in our culture. He talks about the screamers that are taking all the oxygen out of the room, and instead he wants to have civil conversations that explore nuance and understand different points of view. In this episode, we do a deep dive into connecting across differences, and how to have human-to-human conversations with people whose beliefs might differ significantly from our own.
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Highlights & Takeaways
You might still disagree with someone’s views, but you can understand and appreciate each other on a human level - lead with curiosity and empathy
Assumptions and generalizations often come in the question form of: “Why do all…?” For example, Corey grew up Jewish and became a Christian, and he has been asked: “Why do all you Jews vote Democrat?”
He defuses generalizations by saying: “I can’t speak for all Jews. We're all different. Some vote this way, some vote that way. So I'll speak for myself.” And he encourages others to re-examine their assumptions
Corey was met a lot of resistance and heated dialogues with his family after he converted to being a Christian, but it was his dad’s inclination to value their father-son relationship more than other cultural and political convictions that would allow them to cut through the weeds and walk the path together.
Focus on building relational rather than transactional connections: “The good news is you can nurture those relationships. You can earn that credibility and get into the room. There's more opportunity than ever. But if it's simply like banging the phones, dialing for dollars, it's just not going to happen.”
Find excuses to connect: “It amazes me to this day, how approachable and accessible all kinds of folks are at every level. If you have something to talk about, if you have points of common connection or a common cause. I'm not saying that everybody's going to get back to you, but it's going to be more than 1/100 or 2/100, if you approach it that way.”
Resources Mentioned
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