Skip to content

Politics, Religion, and Friendship

friendshipDisagree about politics and religion and whatever, but don’t “unfriend” your REAL friends over it.

I was deeply offended (I was surprised by how much) when, at the very beginning of the 2016 presidential campaign season, someone I am very close to “in real life” posted a notice on Facebook, albeit humorously, saying “If you are voting for Hilary, just unfriend me now.”

At that time I was unsure which of the Dems I was going to vote for — but what I’d just been told by that post was “I only care about you if you agree with my politics.”

I think that is just wrong. I mean, I can think of at least one FB friend who I care about who is a Trump supporter — I love it that he calls me out on my comments and I can call him out on his. I am a very committed atheist, yet I have friends and family who are committed Christians… it CAN work.

I have tried to take the position that while I disagree *vehemently* with their politics, they are still my friends. The battle is getting ugly. But “unfriending” people you otherwise care about because they disagree with us only perpetuates the very-real problem of confirmation bias… which is a key cause of this nation’s widening polarization (and which Facebook is making worse and worse).