Debating or Learning?

Over the last week I’ve watched more of Charlie Kirk’s videos than I have since I first started following his career about eight years ago and it prompted me to think about the difference between debate and learning.

Kirk’s “Prove Me Wrong” tour was billed as the, “on-the-ground debate series hosted by Charlie Kirk, as he invites students to challenge his views on political and cultural issues.” It was conservative political theatre at its best and garnered plenty of online views. The video segments were often given provocative titles like, “Charlie Kirk DESTROYS Pro-Abortion arguments in EPIC debate,” “45 Minutes of Charlie Kirk SHUTTING DOWN College Kids,” “30 Minutes of Epic DEI Meltdowns,” “Charlie Kirk SLAMS Leftie’s Border Take.”

It should be fairly obvious to any reasonable observer that these titles are designed to be click bait for those who have rightwing political leanings, or for those on the left who wanted to see how “harsh” he was. There is no sense of humility, compassion, or love in these titles, there’s not supposed to be.

If you watch some of these videos you’ll see they don’t even meet the criteria of what would generally be considered a debate. However, even if they did meet the criteria of an organised public debate we have to remember that debates are not about learning. Debates are about winning or losing.

At the end of the day a debate is not designed to change the mind of anyone involved in the debate. A good debate is structured to allow the presentation of opposing views and the rebuttal by each side of the opposing view. At the end of the debate the question is not, “Who was right?” The question is, “Who won?”

Have you ever heard anyone in a debate setting turn to their opponent and say, “That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of that before, I’ll have to reconsider my position?” Of course not. People prepare for debates, they memorise their talking points, they come up with their soundbites that they hope will stick and give them the victory.

Some people love debate, because it provides an opportunity to get one over on another person. I, for one, used to love to argue and debate (I mean debate here and not discussion, even though we might, on occasion, used those terms interchangeably).

In my younger days I was fairly arrogant and confident of what was right and wrong and would happily argue (debate) with anyone interested. I had no desire to listen to what they had to say, I just wanted to undermine their opinion and win. How foolish and unloving that was of me. My view of the world was myopic.

Then I looked to Jesus.

I looked to someone who often engaged with folks who disagreed with him and found he didn’t get into heated debates. When a theologian tried to debate Jesus, Jesus didn’t bite and flipped the script by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. Or when folks tried to trap Jesus with a gotcha question on paying taxes to Caesar, he again flips the script and challenges them to think about what it means to be God’s image bearer in the world.

I discovered the apostle Paul who, in bringing the Christian faith to the great city of Ephesus, is accused of defaming the local gods, but when brought before the city clerk, the clerk stands before the crowd and declares, “You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.” Proclaiming Jesus doesn’t require us to attack or diminish others.

There are still times when I will argue just for arguments sake, or to poke the bear. I know it’s foolish and never fruitful.

I’d rather spend my time learning and being with people who are open to learning rather than with people who simply want to defend a position.

People who want to learn are curious. They ask questions and listen. They read widely and in depth. They seek understanding as they pursue truth. They are humble.

That last point on learning, humility, may be the most important of all. Learners are not arrogant. While believing their current position is the right one, they hold it lightly enough so they can change their minds if they need to. They are always searching, always discerning, always pursuing truth and, as Paul said, they recognise that for now we only know in part.

Learning requires an open mind and a generosity of spirit. It requires grace.

There are too many folks who read solely for the purpose to confirm their bias. Even when they read authors they disagree with, it’s only to pick them apart in order to further their own confirmation bias. They want to prove them wrong rather than show a willingness to learn something from the material they are engaging with.

At times we are all guilty of operating from a position of confirmation bias. It is something we have to be both aware of and let go of if we really want to learn.

Learning is not easy, it’s hard to say, “I could be wrong.” Sometimes we have to unlearn some deeply held beliefs if we are going to live as God’s people and love the world as God calls us to do.

I believe it was Brian Cox who said, “There are too many people in this world who want to be right and too few who just want to know.”