Finding [un]Common Ground – Steve Fink

What do a conservative Christian Republican and a religiously-unaffiliated Democrat have in common when it comes to divisive political issues?  More than you might think.  This week Kevin talks with Steve Fink, who for the past 15 years has been a “None”—someone who answers “none” to the survey question “what is your religious affiliation?”.  Steve is certainly not alone in America, where Nones have been on the rise for quite some time. According to the Pew Research Center, Nones were the single category in religious affiliation surveys with the most growth between 2007 and 2014, going from 12.1% to 15.8% (+3.7).  In the same period, those identifying as any type of Christian decreased from 78.4% to 70.6% (-7.8).

Steve grew up in a conservative Christian home, and even worked as a youth pastor for a time as a young man.  He then spent years living abroad in Mexico and Japan, and as he met more and more good people of different faiths, he ceased to identify with Christian exclusivism.  Though he has not returned to the faith since, he still has a positive view of the church and feels that he and his Christian friends have much in common.  For this reason, Steve reached out to Skyline Church in El Cajon (where Kevin attends) seeking to form some sort of cooperative effort to find what people of different religious affiliations can have in common.

Kevin and Steve compare perspectives on a wide variety of political issues, from same-sex marriage, to gun ownership and regulation, to the refugee crisis.  Though they disagree on some of the details, you may be surprised by just how easy it is for them to find common ground.  This episode offers a pattern for bridging the gap between people of different religious or political affiliations!

This episode first aired on February 7th, 2016.