Over the weekend, I received a bit of a jolt. Back in my hometown, a religion professor at the University of Dayton, which is ostensibly a Catholic school, expressed her opposition to the state legislature's override of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's veto of a bill prohibiting men in women's sports and transitioning children through drugs and surgery.
According to a piece in The College Fix, Professor Esther Brownsmith contends that the Bible is full of passages supporting gender fluidity, including the story of Jospeh's coat of many colors. Here is part of an op-ed Brownsmith wrote for the local paper:
This is just one of the ways that the Bible indicates that the "shapely and beautiful" Joseph (Genesis 39:6) crossed gender boundaries, and he was not the only one: Deborah led an army, Mordecai breast-fed his cousin Esther, and Daniel was probably a eunuch, For scholars like me who research the Bible, these are just a few of the ways that scripture portrays gender as a colorful spectrum, not a rigid binary. Even God is sometimes described with feminine language, as a midwife or nursing mother. Yes, the Bible was written in a patriarchal time, but it recognizes that people reimagined and reshaped their gender identities back then—just like they do today. (sic)
She also claims that the Bible supports the use of drugs and surgery to transition children. And she is offering a Lenten series at a local Episcopal church.
I fully expected it to be any one of several Episcopal churches in the area. But I must admit that I was surprised when I clicked on the link to discover that it was the church where I was baptized as an infant and attended faithfully during my youth. I was an altar boy, or what some would call an acolyte, well into my late teens. As an aspiring seminarian, I preached my first sermon from the pulpit, and my parents' remains are interred in the columbarium. There was an elementary school in that church, which I attended, so I literally grew up there. In addition to the standard SJW trappings, the church has added a labyrinth for one to walk in contemplation. It is a mandala. And it appears that the sanctuary is mostly empty during services.
Lent is a time to embrace such things as self-examination and repentance. But here is a look at the discussions planned for this Lenten series, which is named "Scripture's Spectrum: Queer, Trans, and Non-Binary Bible Readings:"
February 21: Joseph and the Rainbow Princess Dress
February 28: Redefining Masculinity with Daniel the Eunuch
March 6: “Whither Thou Goest”: Ruth’s Sapphic Steadfastness
March 13: The Non-Binary Wisdom of Mordecai and Qohelet
March 21: Imagining a Genderfluid God
This is not only torturing scripture, it is strangling it until it turns purple and its eyes bug out. Furthermore, anyone who paid even a scant amount of attention in Sunday School and is familiar with a modicum of 20th century history knows that Joesph's coat had nothing to do with transgenderism. Someone straining this hard to push an agenda is liable to pull a muscle. As to casting a sapphic shadow over the story of Ruth, Ruth was Naomi's daughter-in-law. Not her lover. Ruth is considered a historical book of the Old Testament, which, incidentally, shows the ancestry of none other than King David. David's birth, of course, would have been impossible had Ruth not married Boaz. In case you didn't know, Boaz was a man.
In order to create a gender-fluid God, one must cherry-pick the history, stories, poetry, metaphors, allegories, and images used by biblical writers to make one's case. Anyone who has seriously read the Bible or has even done so casually understands that plucking phrases, words, and passages out of context and fixing them to the wall as truth is not only reckless but dishonest. But when all one has is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And if all one has is gender theory, everything looks like, well, whatever one wants, I suppose.
Not to mention, the 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days Christ fasted in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan with worldly gain. With this series, Lent is being turned inside out to promote personal pride. Instead of a time of denial and rejection, not just of sins but of things that distract one from God, this series will likely be a celebration of the self. One must wonder how such people would react to Satan's offers.
I am not lamenting the fate of my home church. The western side of the Anglican Communion has been auguring into the ground for some time now. Just ask Fr. Calvin Robinson. And frankly, in America, one is free to create whatever religion one likes, complete with mandalas and rainbow candles. But the intent is not to create something new. At its heart, the purpose of the entire movement is to destroy things. And not just to destroy them but to drag them, stripped, bound, and gagged behind Caesar's chariot during a triumphal parade through a metaphorical Rome.
Related: Seeking a Christian Civilization — Not 'Christian Nationalism'
Last week, Matt wrote about efforts to re-imagine "The Wizard of Oz" and "It's a Wonderful Life." He noted that such attempts will only serve to polarize the nation. I would add that there is also an effort underway to "light new lamps and wipe away the horizon," as Nietzsche once said. Otherwise, we would simply see new stories and even new religions.
But those cannot exist until the old stories, and in particular, the old religions, are mocked, remade, discredited, and dismantled before ultimately being discarded. Such things cannot be allowed to coexist with the new if progress is to be made and enlightenment achieved. Then, the world and even God will conform to these people's vision. But God cannot be controlled, and the world does not exist to cater to one's expectations. Ironically, the only time the world did exist to meet man's needs was in the opening chapters of Genesis. And we know how that turned out.
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