Wednesday 14 February 2007

Gender for Christians

In my peregrinations in the web, I've found quite a number of well-meaning Christians making pronunciamentos on Sex and Gender, universally decrying any attempt to, as they see it, "blur the line" between the sexes for political purposes. They see it as moral corruption, and so are forced by their consciences to make a stand. Many "love the sinner but hate the sin", though alas, not everyone does. But more do than not, and that speaks highly of them.
I've written to many authors, trying to at least correct errors of fact. I've had few responses. OK, I've had one response, from a student at the Baptist "Liberty Unbiversity", which read as follows:
Please note first of all that is article was NOT meant to address the issue of people who are BORN transgender. Rather, my position is that people who are born male or female and then attempt to alter their sex because they feel they can no longer identify with that sex pose a potential problem to society.

Also please note that due to the overwhelming response to my article, this is a generic response that I am sending to all people who took the time to email me.

For virtually everyone, chromosomes provide the best and easiest way to determine sex. In an extremely small minority of cases, deformities may complicate question. Because gender roles are so deeply ingrained in the Bible, it would be unacceptable to encourage anyone in society to attempt to change their sex because of a minute number of cases. In this light, determining sex based on chromosomes provides the most practical solution.

This article was not meant to be a biology lesson, as you have noticed by my removal of scientific terms. My intent in writing the article was to explore the idea of "Sex Reassignment Surgery" as an attempt to alter sex - something that I, and conservative Christians, feel cannot be changed.

Thank you for responding to my article.

Respectfully,
Jennifer Thurman
Her Essay "DNA and Gender" is no longer available in the archives of the Liberty Champion but it was all about how 46xx is female, 46xy male, and that was all there was to it. In particular the statement "there are no intermediate chromosomes" was made, thereby denying the existence of 47xxy. The implication of her reply is that there are far more people wanting to surgically "change their sex" for morally suspect reasons than the "tiny minority" who have a biological problem. I doubt she has any idea of how many "sex change" operations there are, nor how many Intersexed people there are.

Ah well. She was polite, well-meaning, and respectful. I wish all were.

But now I've found what could be the definitive reply to all such articles, as it attempts to answer real and troubling questions from a Christian perspective. It's over at Ex-Gay Watch and is called The Scientific Problem With Sex Dichotomies. Read Entire.

UPDATE : I've had a stimulating and useful exchange of e-mails with Ms Thurman. Her compassion and passionate attempt to do what is Right and full of Christian Love come through in all she writes. Alas, some of those who have attacked her have done so with spite and hatred. She mentioned that merely in passing, yet I could tell how hurt she was. She didn't deserve that.

Her latest reply is now available. Now there are areas of her reply I really must take strong exception to, and have written to her accordingly. But I've tried to do so in the same gentle spirit that she has shown when writing to me.

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