My view on "institutional conspiracy theories."

A friend asked earlier in the week if I painted all suspicion of institutional behavior with the broad and pejorative brush of "conspiracy theory." I will be the first to tell you that my inclination is to give our institutions the benefit of the doubt. Knowing this about myself, however, helps me to check myself for that bias when reading the news.

I always leave myself open to new information that could lead me to change my mind, and I consider, to the best of my ability, the motivations of those promoting a particular point of view.

I look for integrity of thought and action, and that is apparent to me when you evaluate your friends using the same unit of measure you apply to those with whom you disagree - note that I don't use the words "enemy" or "foe." I may be naive and "old school," but I come from an era when we believed we all wanted good things for ourselves and one another, and our differences were in how to achieve them.

That said, we should never tolerate or give consideration to racism, sexism, inequality under the law, or anything that denies our dignity as image-bearers of God.

One last thing - I don't believe in closed information loops. Yes, I have beliefs to which I hold firmly, but I am not afraid to test them. It's too convenient and intellectually incurious to present a point of view and declare the sources that challenge it invalid without exception.