Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Investigating Spiritual Harassment and Abuse  WP Post Article In an exclusive article, Ian Shapira reported on problems within the US Anglican Church (2025, October 24). Two leaders in the Anglican church are identified early in the WP report.    [Ruch, who has been a bishop for 12 years, is one of two top leaders in the continent’s Anglican denomination confronting allegations of wrongdoing. The other is its senior-most official, Archbishop Stephen Wood. A married father of four sons, Wood, 62, has been accused by a former employee of trying to kiss her last year inside his church office in South Carolina, according to a new church presentment, which The Washington Post obtained in advance of its Monday submission. The accusations, which include plagiarizing sermons and demeaning colleagues, could prompt an ecclesiastical trial against Wood and his removal from ministry, according to the denomination’s laws. (Shapira, 2025).] ***** My concern is for people who have exper...

Let it go? AI Image Geoffrey W. Sutton 2025 Don’t Just Let It Go—Let It Teach You First When ‘Let It Go’ Isn’t Enough Several weeks ago, I was in the middle of a heated pickleball match when a grumpy opponent blatantly cheated on a call. I grew up in a black-and-white moral world of “right or wrong,” so my first instinct was to call him out. But my partner just shrugged and said, “Let it go.” I hated that advice. I paused. Reflected. And, reluctantly, “I let it go.” My partner was right. But over the years I’ve noticed that friends and bosses love to tell anyone who’s been hurt or offended to “just let it go.” I agree when it’s minor—why sweat the small stuff?—but when the offense is serious, rushing past it can backfire. Before you hit “play on,” here’s why I recommend pressing pause on the big ones. Lessons Hidden in the Hurt Pain often signals that something needs correcting. If we instantly discard every slight, we risk missing lessons that protect us from repeating bad choices—whe...

  Where are we now? The Turing Test, originally called the "Imitation Game," is a concept proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 to address the question, "Can machines think?". Instead of trying to define the complex notion of "thinking," Turing suggested a practical test to determine whether a machine could exhibit behavior indistinguishable from that of a human (Vation Ventures.com). How it works Participants: Three individuals participate: The Interrogator (Judge): A human whose goal is to determine which of the other two participants is human and which is a machine. Human Participant: A human who aims to convince the interrogator that they are human. Machine Participant: A computer program that strives to imitate human conversation and responses so effectively that the interrogator cannot reliably distinguish it from the human participant. Communication : All three participants are isolated from each other and communicate solely through a text-based interf...

Influential Christian clergyman, John MacArthur recently died (14 July 2025).  AI image for illustration only Bing Creator 2025 MacArthur's beliefs reveal the difficulty integrating faith and science for many Christians. I hypothesize that some beliefs are so different that patients and providers holding a MacArthur worldview would have difficulty interacting effectively with those patients or providers who hold a contrasting scientific worldview. Following are some beliefs collected from the internet.  Please offer corrections for any inaccuracies as to the facts provided, quotations, or links to the references provided. 1. Young Earth Creationism Belief : MacArthur teaches that the Earth was created in six literal 24-hour days and is only several thousand years old. Supporting Citation: “The duration of ‘the evening and the morning’ on the first day of creation was the same as the evening and morning of any solar day” (MacArthur, 2001, p. 37). Contrast with Science: Radiomet...

Are You Happy Yet?  UP and DOWN metaphors It’s common knowledge that news sources thrive on negative news. Afterall, we are hardwired to respond to threats as a matter of survival. Unfortunately, a torrent of bad news can produce sadness or even depression. Depression as a word fits the up-down metaphor as if our brains had a vertical structure for moods where up is good and down is bad. In banter with my cousin Stan (RIP) his response to “how are ya” was “still above ground.” On leaving, I’d say “I’m going underground” as he delivered me to my London tube station. Religious folks use up and down metaphors for heaven and hell, which I always thought was funny for those DOWN under (Aussies). When things are DOWN, we often characterize them as LOWER, CUT, NOT WORKING, BROKEN, AT THE BOTTOM, and ON THE GROUND. When people in important positions leave, they STEPDOWN. And naysayers warn the arrogant that they should watch out for a FALL. If you consume news, check out the DOWNPOUR in re...

George Washington Out of Context, 2025 Geoffrey Sutton and Artspace.ai How Do You Interpret the News? How Do We Put Today's News in Context? When asked what something means, we usually respond based on our context, which involves an interaction between ourselves, other people, and our location. By location I mean our geographic place and our historical timeframe. For example, the words ‘Civil War’ evoke different associations if heard in England or the USA, or through media from different nations. These two events occurred some 200 years apart. There is a connection. President George Washington’s great-grandfather John Washington was a royalist who supported King Charles I against Parliament. Thus, context is not just about spatial location but also time. President Washington and the Continental Congress likely considered the issues of the Civil War (the English one). When significant changes occur in a nation, as reported in the news today, we try to put them into context. Unfortu...

Reproduction IVF 2025 Who Has the Right to Control Reproduction? A New Order Stimulates Ethical Discussions The expensive IVF (in vitro fertilization) procedure made news as the president issued an order that could increase the availability and lower the cost. Some have expressed concern over the declining birthrates in the US. As lawmakers and courts make decisions about human reproduction, the question remains: Who controls women’s bodies? https://amzn.to/3XG5Kmr https://www.axios.com/2025/02/19/trump-ivf-order-birth-rate-costs ***** Not all of the politicians are on board with IVF.  Why would anyone oppose the procedure that gives hope to so many? It is well-known that substantial numbers of evangelical Christians supported the president in his campaign during the last election (Pew 2024) and vote for  Republican party politicians but, in some Conservative Christian worldviews, human life begins when a human egg is fertilized. Currently, the IVF procedure creates more ferti...