Cognitive confirmation bias, the core concept of my upcoming book, Slant, on how we understand Jesus, scriptures, and our theology, has also become a current “buzz word” in the confusion of our society today.

No matter what “side” of the political spectrum we are on, we want to know “how” others cannot see the “truth” or “facts” that are right in front of them. Interestingly, this inquiry comes from both ends of that divide. That should tell us something.

The answer is simpler and yet more complex than we might imagine. “Cognitive bias” itself can be hard enough to recognize, but when compounded by other factors, such as crowd influence, peer pressure, relational alignments, media influence, and environment, things get complicated indeed.

Cognitive bias means essentially that our core motivat…