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I’ve been wanting to let you know that I’m ready for the second half of your book, Common Ground Without Compromise. I used the method suggested in the first half, beginning a conversation with someone who identified himself as “very pro-choice” by seeking common ground before dealing with issues on which I knew we would disagree. This resulted in him now identifying as pro-life…I began by seeking to clarify that we both held our beliefs because we were concerned about the welfare of women, and that we had reached the conclusions we had each come to because we felt those conclusions best served the needs of women…Finally, regarding the issue of abortion itself, this is where the real surprise took place. I began by asking how he felt about late-term abortion. He replied that he was adamantly opposed to late-term abortion, but he was unaware that this type of procedure was available in a number of states, or that the federal government places virtually no restrictions on abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. It turns out that he thought abortion was only provided to women in the hard cases…The best part is that this person is my Dad. We had not spoken for quite some time before this. I am adamantly and actively pro-life, as well as outspokenly Christian, and my dad had bought into the mainstream media lie that pro-lifers and Christians are far-right-leaning extremists, and because he was left-leaning politically, he thought we must be enemies. Thanks to your book, Josh’s podcast, and God’s grace, I was finally able to address the issues that appeared to separate us, by first finding common ground. That much-needed first step broke through the adversarial wall that had been built…
– Chris Bowen (read the whole story)
Human Beings Matter More 