Will Rogers used to say when opening
his vaudeville act, “All I know is what I read in the papers.”
In that spirit, here are two items in
the news that shed light on our current culture:
In a full-page newspaper ad that ran
during the Winter Olympics, Edward W. Stack, chairman of DICK’s Sporting Goods,
basically paraphrased Rodney King’s admonition to the Los Angeles rioters in
1992: “Can we all get along?” Under the
headline – “United in Sport,” the ad deplores that “our world, our country,
even our communities are as divided as they have ever been.” Yet, we did get through the American Civil
War, the World Wars, and the Cold War. Mr.
Stack is spot on when he laments that, “no one seems to have time or tolerance
for anyone with an opinion differing from their own. Turn on the news or flip through your phone
and it seems as though someone or something is trying to drive us apart.” He goes on more hopefully: “Those forces will
not succeed because you can’t break the human spirit, which at its core is
indivisible.” [To this, author Robert
Knight appropriately say, “Given human nature, I never thought of the human
spirit as indivisible.”] The ad goes on
to show the power of political correctness: “Sport shows us that the
similarities that bind us are infinitely stronger than the differences that
divide us. It is the diversity of race,
religion and gender that truly moves us forward together.” So, which is it? Unity or diversity? Are we E pluribus unum (“out of many, one”)
or, as Al Gore once misspoke, “out of one, many”? When calling for unity, you’d better wave the
diversity flag or face charges of racism, homophobia, xenophobia or
transphobia.
Here’s the second item, which reveals
the new cultural imperatives. A federal
appeals court recently sided with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) in its lawsuit against a Detroit area funeral home for firing
(in 2013) a male funeral director who was transitioning to female. A U.S. district court judge had dismissed the
suit against the R.G. & G.R. Funeral Home in Garden City, but the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the funeral home had discriminated and
ordered the case sent back to the district court. The judges pronounced that, under Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act, “discrimination against employees, either because of
their failure to conform to sex stereotypes or their transgender and
transitioning status, is illegal.” So
let me get this straight [no pun intended]: Guys dressing as guys is no longer
normal, expected behavior. Instead, it’s
conforming to “sex stereotypes,” which sounds oppressive. The judges’ expansion of Title VII is yet
another court-created “right” that was not even a thought in the imaginations
of legislators who crafted the law in 1964 to cover “race, color, religion, sex
and national origin.” Listen: If this
ruling stands, every business in America will be at the mercy of employees who
switch sexual identities after being hired.
While kindness toward all is a good thing, it’s not compassionate to
encourage delusional behavior … especially among minors. Studies cited by the American College of
Pediatricians show that the vast majority of kids with gender dysphoria or same-sex
attraction eventually grow into a normal birth sex identity – if no one tampers
with them. Yet, the State of Delaware
Education Department’s proposed Regulation 225 would allow educators to steer
gender-dysphoric children to trans-counseling and even puberty-delaying
hormones – without telling their parents.
I understand that the American public
is pretty much “live and let live.”
“Whatever feels good, do it.” Most people don’t want to know what floats someone
else’s boat. My heart goes out to people
who reject their birth sex. I know God
loves them just as He loves me and you … with all our flaws. But listen: God wants the best for everyone,
and it has everything to do with His incomparable design for sex and marriage.
In the name of diversity, how about we
stop rigging the law to punish folks who just want to go about their lives as
if reality matters?
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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