On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, a 37-year-old lady named Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot in the city of Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was in the process of carrying out an operation. Three officers approached her car which was partially blocking a residential street where they were conducting their operation and ordered her to get out. Her window was rolled down and when she didn’t immediately comply, one of the agents attempted to open her door. She then tried to drive away when another agent fired his gun through her windshield. It is disputed as to whether she was attempting to run him over with her SUV or whether she was simply trying to flee the scene. But what is not disputed is that three shots rang out which resulted in a U.S. citizen losing her life at the hands of a law enforcement agency whose job is to identify and remove those who are in this country illegally—in particular, those who are coming to this country to engage in criminal activity and are making this country increasingly dangerous and unsafe. A law enforcement officer of an agency that exists primarily to make our nation safer did something that made life very unsafe and dangerous—deadly in fact—for Renee Nicole Good.
Almost immediately two very different accounts of what transpired and led to this tragic event emerged. The government defended the shooting saying it was an act of domestic terrorism—that Good had been stalking and impeding their work and the agent fired shots in self-defense after she weaponized her vehicle and was attempting to run him over. Eyewitnesses and various cell phone videos brought forth a vastly different narrative—that she was a legal bystander and observer who’d been gunned down by an overaggressive agent who didn’t follow protocol and adhere to his training, using a level of force that was well beyond commensurate and proportional to the threat she posed. Her attempt to de-escalate the situation and drive away was met by deadly force.
All parties can certainly agree that what happened was horribly tragic and unfortunate. And all parties should also try to extract lessons from this situation … whether it relates to how we react and respond when approached by those in authority or the attitude and approach with which law enforcement goes about their business. But the thing that stands out to me in the wake of this catastrophic circumstance is the prevalence of confirmation bias—a modus operandi that is becoming increasingly widespread and common in our day. This situation reminds me of the truth of Stephen Covey’s statement: “We don’t see the world as it is but, rather, we see it as we are.”
What is confirmation bias? It is a mindset that causes us to seek out, remember, and give more weight to information that confirms what we already believe while ignoring or dismissing information that challenges those beliefs. It is a way of thinking that causes us to filter information in ways that reinforce the opinions we currently embrace while minimizing or downplaying information that is incompatible. It’s a way of filtering information that latches on to those ideas that align with our pre-existing beliefs while ignoring those we deem contradictory. It’s a way to creating a mental echo chamber where the only ideas that get any real traction are those that prop up and bolster our existing worldview.
We see this sort of thing all the time. We see it in news consumption, as we tend to watch news channels, or read news sources, that promote a political viewpoint that aligns with and will reinforce what we already believe while labeling those that lean in the opposite direction as “biased” and “partisan”. It’s often evidenced in first impressions—deciding someone is unfriendly and noticing only their cold behaviors while ignoring their friendly ones. When facing a major decision, we may focus on data that supports the strategy we are leaning towards and discount or ignore information that challenges it. And as it relates to the death of Renee Nicole Good—most of us are interpreting what we saw and explaining it in a way that goes along with the worldview we possess. Because none of us want to be wrong, we tend to gravitate toward information that substantiates what we believe to be true and turn away from information that refutes it.
There’s a sense in which confirmation bias is not fully avoidable—we can’t steer clear of it entirely. No doubt crafters of search engine software and social media algorithms have used this to their advantage to feed us advertisements or links to posts or articles that reinforce and fortify our existing worldview. Because confirmation bias operates in the arena of our subconscious, we typically don’t realize we’re filtering information while it’s going on. In addition, none of us is immune to forming a gut instinct in a certain situation and allowing it to guide us as we process various factors and assess information moving forward.
But even though we can’t mitigate confirmation bias entirely, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can do to ease it to some degree. While we may not be able to cure it, that doesn’t mean we can’t do some things to diminish its impact. For the negative effects of confirmation bias can be enormous—poor decisions, reinforced stereotypes and generalizations that typically are not accurate, and the amplifying of disagreements and polarization in a world that is already exceptionally polarized. In a world that is rife with tension and division, the exercise of confirmation bias can be like throwing gasoline on a flame.
So, how do we minimize the impact of confirmation bias? How do we keep ourselves from falling prey to the ignorance and blindness it can impose on us? The place to begin, I believe, is by intentionally embracing an attitude of humility, for this will do a number of things for us. Those who are humble tend to be more self-aware, and self-awareness is the first step in recognizing we’re susceptible to this bias. Those who are humble don’t necessarily hold their beliefs more loosely or with less conviction, but they are open to the fact they might be wrong. They are willing to question their assumptions, evaluate evidence objectively, and consider an alternative explanation. Not that we intentionally seek out opposing views or deliberately look for perspectives that challenge our existing beliefs, but we’re aware there is information available which we don’t know and hadn’t considered that might influence where we land on a particular matter.
I’ve always thought that people who believe differently than me, or have a different opinion, have had a different life experience, and if I’d had their life experience, I’d probably land where they’ve landed in terms of my beliefs. While pride tends to cause us to look at those who believe differently than we do with a “You’re an idiot!” mindset, humility tends to view this as an opportunity for dialogue from which we can learn and grow. The prideful person approaches such a conversation with a dogmatic and narrow-minded mindset, but the humble person is genuinely inquisitive and curious. While such a discussion may not lead to a major change or adjustment in our beliefs, it will certainly heighten our understanding and raise our awareness. And in this extraordinarily polarized day—in this day when people who disagree are more likely to scream at and belittle each other rather than respectfully discuss and exchange their ideas—dialogue that can raise awareness and heighten understanding is an exceptionally welcome thing.
In Philippians 2 the apostle Paul said our attitude should mirror and imitate that of Jesus. He proceeded to highlight his humility—how the entire operation that led to His coming to earth wasn’t about self-importance or hubris but was humble and unassuming in orientation. As people who profess to follow Jesus, that kind of attitude should punctuate our interactions as well. For the fact remains people of sincere and deep faith can land in very different places politically. No political party or human movement fully embodies the interests and values of God’s Kingdom. As a result, there will be people who are our brothers and sisters spiritually who will land at a very different place politically than we do.
In these days, church tension and divides are as much, if not more so, the result of ideological divides than theological ones. Just reflect back on how acrimonious and divisive the Covid pandemic was—how many people affiliated with a certain church or disaffiliated with one they’d belonged to for a number of years, because of ideological issues or because the church didn’t take “their side”. What can we do to fight against this kind of thing ever happening again? I believe a great place to start would be with each of us understanding the disruptive potential of confirmation bias and doing what we can to make sure it doesn’t hinder us any more than it already has. And the place to begin is to make sure that humility is a foundational, rather than peripheral or secondary, characteristic of our lives.