Colorado's Transgender Theocracy

 

Unbelievably and horribly, the state of Colorado seems poised to enact some draconian laws based on the bizarre pseudo religion of transgenderism. The bills, which are moving through the legislature and will probably be signed by their governor, call for children to be removed from the care of parents who mis-gender, dead-name (call children by their given name), and or don't affirm the choice of a child to transition away from the sex they were born with. Additionally, there is a call to establish Colorado as a trans sanctuary state, where any trans-motivated child who ran away to the Centennial State would not be returned to any non transition affirming parents in other states.

While the state of Colorado does have legitimate power to follow any moral or religious course it wants to, at least under the First Amendment as it was intended to be used (how about we do that with other issues?), the course it seems to be pursuing is extreme, theocratic tending, high handed, openly hostile to other states, and quite simply dangerously wrong.

For those who object that transgenderism is not a religious movement, consider this. It operates like a religion, basing its principles on mere belief and not empirically demonstrable data. No trans gene has been identified. It insists that people believe it without having persuaded them, and it works to silence any contrary beliefs. Sounds pretty religious to an unbiased observer. The deep flaws in Colorado's thinking can be seen if we consider how wrong it would be if other states, using different religious assumptions, followed a similar course.

For instance, what if neighboring Oklahoma adopted a similarly aggressive policy of Christian evangelism. First of all, they, and many affiliated Christian organizations, could recruit and train teachers to infiltrate public schools, in Oklahoma, Colorado, and other states. Then, under the guise of teaching about the world's religions, those teachers could slyly persuade young children to be baptized without parental knowledge or approval. It is documented that trans activists do this in many public schools, sometimes with school board sanction.

Trans activist teachers do so based on the assertion that the kids are really already trans, and they are just helping them to become who they really are. Christians can take a similar stance, because it is a sincerely held Christian belief that each of us is predestined to have or not have faith. So by slyly proselytizing the young for Christ, a Christian activist can sincerely see themselves doing the Lord's work. Just like a trans activist who proselytizes for transgenderism.

Then, if the parents don't approve of the conversion, perhaps laws should be passed to remove children from the care of non believing parents. Just like the Colorado laws (and the laws of some other states) propose to do.

On top of that, once converted, the children can be easily enabled (via phone, email, social media) to maintain contact with the evangelistic team. Then, even if they live in another state, transportation can be arranged to get the child to Oklahoma, where there would be a sanctuary in place for believing children of non believing parents. So the runaway young believer does not have to go back to the non believing household.

Everything about the just presented scenario is honestly and directly analogous to what is being done with transgenderism in Colorado. Obviously, acting in that way would be a horrible attack on families and culture. Any Christian, whether as an individual or as a church, should not behave in such an unethical and immoral manner. But neither should those who believe in the religion of transgenderism.

In this time of great moral and social upheaval, we, as a nation would find a lot of solutions by returning to an honest use of our constitutional system of government. For one thing, that would take all the issues of sexual identity out of federal hands, because such issues are not even mentioned in the Constitution, so where, with the 10^th Amendment as a guide, do we find any federal authority to legislate in such matters? Those powers are not delegated to the feds, so they should stay in the hands of the states.

Even then, as discussed about the proposed laws in Colorado, we should hesitate to try to impose our moral beliefs on the folks in other states. Even if we do allow various religious and moral systems to be established in the states, we should not go the way of imposing unwanted beliefs on those who disagree, or on the residents of other states.

That was the mistake the Supreme Court made in the Dred Scott decision, mandating that free states could no longer forbid slavery from operating in their states, and it led directly to the Civil War. Colorado's Governor Polis should consider that, and the other issues mention here, before he vetoes the very ill advised transgender laws that are probably soon coming to his desk.

Respect or Consideration

 

There was recently a well publicized case where one high school student stabbed another student to death in Frisco, TX. The stabber let it be known that the victim had “dis-respected” him, and therefore, in the stabber's mind, the victim had it coming. The sickening tragedy of this case sheds light on a much deeper problem afflicting our culture, which can be boiled down to love versus pride.

Pride is a mind set the world encourages us to have. We are told to be proud of our nation, our state, our sports teams, our community, and above all ourselves. With pride in our hearts, the next thing is to demand respect, the kind of respect that confirms our pride in ourselves. Then anyone who disrespects us must be forced to pay the price; to in some way acknowledge that our pride is justified.

Love, on the other hand, (at least the kind of love the bible defines) is something that is not focused on ourselves, but is instead focused on uplifting others. With love, at least in Christ, our own identity is grounded in God, so we can give of ourselves to others. Instead of demanding respect from others, or even just respecting those we consider deserve it, we can love even those we don't respect. In that perspective, the opposite of respect is the long neglected virtue of consideration. Actually considering the status and situation of the other person.

Jesus gave an unexpected response along these lines when the lawyer (Luke 10:29) asked him (as a way to dodge the obligation to love his neighbor) “Who is my neighbor?” It is clear the man was looking for ways to eliminate people who did not qualify to be loved, people he did not have to respect.

Jesus ignored the baiting question, and instead told the parable of the good Samaritan, which ended with him asking, “Who was a neighbor to the victim?” The obvious answer is that it was the good Samaritan, the one who showed loving consideration to the victim. With that parable Jesus flipped the script, revealing that, at least for those who claim to follow God, it is not a question of how we can rationalize our selfish pride, but do we see the wonderful opportunity we have to live out the will of our heavenly Father?

So it seems we must somehow renounce the worldly values, the two sided coin of pride and respect. If we want, that is, to grow out of the ongoing near riot and mayhem our culture is drifting into. We must instead pick up the two sided spiritual coin of love and consideration, and by wielding it effectively, we might slowly bring our culture back to sanity.

One word should be added about the long neglected virtue of consideration. Most folks will agree that we should love one another, and that consideration is part of that. But it must be emphasized that it is not just being sincere about offering loving consideration to others that is key. Consideration becomes truly alive, and a divine tool, when it is done in a thorough, deeply thoughtful and prayerful way. You know, like the deep and intense way we each consider our own needs. When we make that kind of considerate effort toward others, we are truly loving our neighbor as ourselves. Which is not just a good idea, it is the law.