MYRNA BROWN, hosted by: August 19, 2022. the world and everything in itGood morning, Myrna Brown.
NICK EICHER, Host: I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday!
Andrew Walker is now on board. He is Professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at Southern Theological Seminary and Editor-in-Chief of WORLD Opinions. Hi Andrew, good morning!
Andrew Walker, Guest: Hey Nick and Myrna. it was nice to be with you
BROWN: I would like to tell you about two different stories. Both demonstrate our preoccupation with racial culture.
The first concerns an agreement between the Minneapolis teachers’ union group and the school district. The agreement ended a short teachers’ strike and the gist of it was: White teachers are fired before teachers of color, regardless of seniority. The stated purpose is to resolve the “past discrimination” by the district.
So it’s episode 1.
Story 2 is about a social media post by Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor of Georgia. “I am making history and running to be our country’s first black female governor,” she wrote.
In one instance, skin color seems to qualify one for public office. In the following example, people can let go based on their skin tone.
There is a lot of chatter and a lot of divisiveness about both of these stories. How should we react as Christians?
WALKER: Certainly, I can understand the motives for creating policies that try to undo past mistakes. Where can we identify past historical mistakes and where should we repent? Where you can’t, you should lament.
But basically, the problem with policies like the one you just mentioned is that they standardize jobs based on a set of characteristics that have nothing to do with being able to do the job. And I think this is the implication of rejecting the principle that we work based on our competencies and capabilities, rather than on the secondary characteristics of our personality.
But as Christians, I think one of the reasons this is particularly problematic is because it shows that we base our standards of employment, worth, and competence on something other than the image of God. And one of the reasons I think the image of God is such a valuable concept and truth in the moment we are in is that it takes this matter out of our hands and brings the matter to God’s Bible. And to put it in a special revelation.
Therefore, we must refer to the Bible. We are not referring to the many possible human opinions. They are a form of human opinion that can be erroneous and unfair, especially when it comes to removing or terminating teachers based on their own skin color in their own way. It doesn’t help anyone. It does not serve the district’s own integrity, nor does it serve the students.
EICHER: You’ve probably seen videos going viral on social media. Here’s a video of doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital discussing so-called gender reassignment surgery in detail. I am going in a very different direction than the opinion I read in this week’s WORLD Opinions about the closure of the UK government’s health service, the UK Gender Identity Development Service, the largest pediatric gender clinic in the world. Along with that came several statements from clinicians expressing doubts about things like puberty blockers and the harm they might do to children.
So while the UK seems to be going in one direction and the US in another, they are both Western countries and certainly considered English-speaking countries.
What do they tell us about how we interpret these two stories and where the cultural winds are really blowing?
Walker: So much has been revealed, Nick, and thank you for bringing this up.
Attractive is Western Europe, which is beginning to rethink its practices regarding pubertal blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and these very, very invasive surgeries. Because there is always a desire to be progressive like Europe. And lo and behold, progressive Western Europe is rethinking itself, reimagining itself in such a way that there are vulnerable individuals who are being experimented with so novel medical practices.
What few people who haven’t studied the issue professionally realize is how exploratory this drug is. And we have doctors on record, and I want to add to the record here in the United States, that doctors know that medicine on this issue is faster than our understanding of gender dysphoria and gender conflict itself. I confess the reality of progress.
I’m not a historian, so I can’t speak to the future. But my prediction is that in five to ten years, the standards and protocols of treatment recommended here in the United States will be very different from what they are today. And this is yet another example of telling ourselves that it is impossible to fight nature, the futility of trying to fight our nature, and that our bodies are not important. And while you can chop, slice, and dice your body to fit your mind, there’s actually a psychology that helps you fit your mind to your body instead of changing your body. These individuals should be encouraged in the direction of therapy. Surgically or hormonally to suit your heart’s needs.
This is one of the major tensions in the entire transgender worldview. Psychology is subjective, internal, discrete, and known only to the individual claiming so-called gender identity, whereas biological sex is objective. It seems to me that in order to think purely and clearly, one wants to match the subjective and the objective.
EICHER: This is a cultural Friday, not a political Friday, but hang on. I want to talk about the big spending bill that just got signed into law, the Inflation Reduction Act. We talked about it on Monday.
Now I want to talk about what is not included, not what is included. wall street journal There was a piece that emphasized the absence of abortion. It puts in a few dollars to promote abortion in states that promote abortion and to facilitate interstate travel for abortion-interested mothers who live in states that support abortion. would have been the easiest political means to do so.But not only is there nothing along those lines, this wall street journal The author states that proponents didn’t even try.
We hear a lot about the prevailing pro-abortion movement, but this seems like a contrasting data point.
Walker: I think so. I would also like to believe they are afraid to wake up the life support contingent. But I think the Democrats are probably just doing smart politics. And it’s all about trying to cross the finish line or goal line as much as possible.
Looking at the November midterm elections, things don’t look good for Democrats. And as you can see from their thinking, let’s do whatever we can to get the clearest victory possible to keep the message winning and not get bogged down in culture war issues.
Brown: Good! Andrew Walker is Professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at Southern Theological Seminary and Editor-in-Chief of WORLD Opinions. Thank you, Andrew!
WORLD Radio transcripts are produced with an urgent deadline. This text may not be in final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The official recording of a WORLD Radio program is an audio recording.
.
