Cultural bias is like an accent – I don’t have one
I recently came across this article that I wrote in 2016, and as it discusses our internal biases, I’ve posted it again.
Before I left my home country (New Zealand), I had no idea that I had an accent. I thought that was something that people had who lived in other countries. It wasn’t until I traveled overseas, and people from other nations made comments about my accent, that I started to accept that I have something unique about me which I haven’t been able to recognise before.
It has always interested me that I was unable to see something which others could see because my own view didn’t allow for the possibility that it existed. Having accepted the fact that I have an accent makes me wonder what else there is in my life which I have, which I can’t see due to my closeness or the fact that I live amongst the people who all have that same view, for example, a cultural bias.
It occured to me that the way Christianity is practiced in different countries varies according to the culture of that country. As Christians, we are called to be salt and light to the world yet it seems our national cultures put a stronger stamp on us on so many occasions.
I find it interesting that issues such as inerrancy versus inspiration of Scripture, creation versus evolution, literal versus applied interpretation of Scripture, the role of women in ministry, gay rights and so on, are big issues in some (Western) countries, and barely spoken about in others, even though Christianity is a predominant faith in these same countries. What’s even more interesting is that different denominations, regions and socio/economic groups within the same country will have varying views on the same subjects.
A recent National Geographic article questioned why people will hold strong views that are not held elsewhere or not supported by known facts. One of the reasons is our susceptibility to peer pressure (confirmation bias) – we do what the people around us do, we like what they like, and we think what they think. We don’t want to alone.
We all like to think that we have an unbiased view on something as important as faith, but I suggest that we are all tainted by the same culture that dictates our accent – we just don’t realise it. Our culture is all encompassing, and filters everything we do and how we live. If we don’t make an effort to carefully look at the social culture we live in, it will become our default. It is only when we step back from it, to compare it to others, that we can make a deliberate choice on the issues that confront us daily.
It is only then that we realise that we do have a cultural bias as much as we have an accent. Only then, can we understand why we think/believe/act in certain ways, and only then can we measure our culture against the culture of the Kingdom of God as exampled in Jesus Christ. This Kingdom culture is the primary culture we Christians should be applying to our lives. It should be our accent, obvious to those around us, but so much part of ourselves that we don’t recognise we are even doing it.
For more information on internal biases, listen to Brian McLaren’s podcast “Learning How to See“
For a group discussion questions, see Chapter 20 of my book “Big Questions“
Faith should be lived out in practice
- In Christ Daily – Day 3 - 2 November 2025
- In Christ Daily – Day 2 - 2 November 2025
- In Christ Daily – Day 1 - 2 November 2025