Let’s be honest: Spending time cooped up with family and friends on holidays like Thanksgiving can present some interesting conversational challenges for many of us. With that in mind, podcast producer John Wright asks this question of Bart Campolo in this episode:
“Bill Maher thinks we should stop talking politics with each other in the context of our personal lives and let it be more of a private thing. As someone who had a very serious conversation over Thanksgiving with your parents several years ago about leaving the faith, what do you think of this idea, and how should we conduct conversations with family and friends over Thanksgiving and the holidays? Do you have any advice about topics which are good for these kinds of occasions and topics which are not?”
Takeaways: Set a goal beyond just hanging out, plan for different kinds of conversations, ask questions that allow others to be heard and seen, don’t try to change anybody’s mind, if you’re worried about having a difficult time tell someone you trust who can be rooting for you going in, have some good, safe topics on hand, and maybe break out the movie Elf.
Never heard Bart’s story of ‘coming out’ as an unbeliever to his parents on Thanksgiving? Watch the documentary (which has new pricing and rental options)! For info: CampoloFilm.com. Good reading material on the topic can be found in the recent NYT article, ‘How to Talk to People, According to Terry Gross.’
Also: Congrats to JC Murphy, Ben Ernsberger and Lexi Powers, who’ll each be sent a copy of Jessica Wilbanks‘ book, ‘When I Spoke in Tongues’, after winning our contest last week!
