I submit this link from our local Columbus Dispatch. It's an editorial from several individuals criticizing a state resolution that would allow parents to know what their children are learning in public schools. The bill would also make sure parents were in on discussions involving their own children and any gender topics. Whether the bill delves into transgender athletes or bathrooms, I don't know. It might, given the references in the editorial.
Rather than comment, I simply copied a few parts that jumped out at me. I bold lettered things that I felt spoke louder than the words used, and underlined phrases that are particularly telling, IMO.
All of this shows we are dealing with followers of a new, alternate reality; believers in a new universe with little in common with what we ever imagined to be true. And it is a reality quickly being acted on and mandated in our society by threat or retaliation. Any negative consequences of this new reality are ignored or dismissed. There is nothing Christian to this, and the below rhetoric shows it is no more liberal or tolerant than it is Christian.
Click on the link (if you can - subscription usually required) and read the whole thing. Though I think the below sections speak for themselves (the italicized part was the intro that describes the three authors of the editorial):
Ben Huelskamp (he/they) is the executive director of
LOVEboldly. Hank Osmundson (he/him) is the executive director of Unitarian
Universalist Justice Ohio and pastor of Community Engagement at St. John’s UCC
in Columbus. Jon Osmundson (he/him) is associate pastor at Hilliard UMC and a
father of six, four of whom attend public school
In his official biography on the State Board of Education website, [Brendan] Shea is described in terms of his faith as an “active parishioner in St. Patrick Church,” “the founder and president of the Madison County Right to Life,” and enjoying “Bible study” in his free time.
Shea may read his Bible, but he clearly needs to study it further. Because of people like Shea and their attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community from a perspective called “faith,” Christians have earned a reputation as anti-LGBTQIA+.
However, many Christians believe that a faithful Christian response does not allow for the homophobia and transphobia that Shea’s resolution demonstrates.
A Christian cannot hold a position that educators must out students to their parents based on any identity including sexual orientation and gender identity. [My note: this is key, and a revealing statement that shows exactly what they want]
As Christians, we believe that there is only one Savior [My note: From what, I wonder]. Given Shea’s bold pronouncement that he is a Christian, too, we can only assume that he agrees. Therefore, we are mystified why he and other self-proclaimed Christians are deeming themselves to be the saviors of cisgender children and adults from transgender people run amok, lest we forget the Target restroom uproar of 2016.
To be clear, we are an educator, a parent, theologians, and pastors. We are not scientists, psychologists, or medical doctors. We do, however, trust science. Thus, we feel it is important to point out that the fear-inducing rhetoric concerning the safety of cisgender people if trans people are allowed access to restrooms that match their gender identity is misplaced and false. Just one of the many examples is this 2019 study from Harvard University and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
When Shea next has free time and turns to his Bible, perhaps he will turn to Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me
"...perhaps he will turn to Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40:...
ReplyDeleteThis is perhaps the highest and most horrific forms of deception of the Truth there is when one uses the Word of God and twists it to promote sin. When I read the sections where the Word was used in this manner by the perverted it brought to mind Jesus' temptations in the desert and Satan trying to turn God's word against the Lord.
Yep. I think it's time to say we are dealing with post-Christian cults in much the same manner as the KKK. They use the trappings of the Faith's lingo but for their own designs. Designs, it's worth noting, that have laid waste to and ruined or cost the lives of millions over the last few generations. I think we're giong to pay big time in future generations for what we've stood by and tolerated.
DeleteThey doth protest too much! One wonders if Protestant Christianity has run its course in younger Americans - keeping the "protest" and dropping Christ.
ReplyDeleteMy informal observation is that those who came of adult age in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, with social media and massive debt, are a different breed of people. Any hope I had of the Boomers finally dying out and things settling down or moving in a more reasonable course direction has been wiped out. Those young adults, who are 30s and even hitting 40 now, across the religious spectrum, show as a whole...in my opinion, no real capacity for reason outside of emotion, no understanding of - let alone commitment to - liberal Enlightenment ideas, or even a basic sense of "live and let live." The worst is seeing it in those you think *should* know better, but they apparently don't. And that is depressing.
DeleteThat is very true, just disappointing on the part of the older generations also. Before WWII was even on the horizon, Antonio Gramsci - that social communist - talked about the "long walk through the institutions." I think we are at the end of that walk and enough ordinary people compromised for gain (real or imagined) and collaborated with it, and well, here we are - it appears to be a roaring success!
Delete(Of course, you can make the case this descent into madness began long before even a century ago, but in the immediate past we would do well to acknowledge there has been a coordinated and aggressive effort to deconstruct certain goods that make up the foundation of our "free" societies.)