What would Jesus do about transgender?
by David Robertson, Christian Today:
It’s that moment you always know will arrive. You’re in the midst of an online discussion in which you are going against the general zeitgeist on a social issue (in this case transgender) and then it happens: someone comes up with what they think is a devastating riposte – ‘WWJD?’. The implication being that your response is not ‘Christlike’. Now apart from being pleased that non-Christians and atheists are so concerned about what Jesus thinks, how does one respond to this?
The first thing is that we need to understand where the question is coming from. It’s a kind of passive-aggressive intimidation – which in the current hysteria about transgender is far too frequently used. The argument is quite simple. Transgender people are being bullied; many are mentally ill and attempt suicide. We should want to prevent such bullying and help people be what they are. WWJD? Surely he would do the ‘nice’ thing and go with the flow?
It’s a tactic that is frequently used and its one that many individual Christians and Christian organisations don’t know how to handle. Some become aggressive and act like the bullies they are accused of being. But most just cave in and do the ‘nice’ thing. That’s why the Church of England issued its guidelines last week about boys being allowed to wear tutus and so on. Most of what was said was uncontroversial and common sense – but boys wearing tutus was never the issue anyway. This was in reality the Church of England mimicking the Tory party, by trying to avoid being called the ‘nasty religion’. The Church was in effect going along with the new Establishment thinking and being its spiritual echo.
So lets return to the question, ‘What would Jesus do about transgender?’
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