Jesus, guns, babies
...and more Ivy League nonsense
As we head into the weekend, I wanted to point quickly to two things that struck me as more than a little unsettling – because who doesn’t like to start off their weekend unsettled, right?
Let’s start with the ongoing injustice being perpetrated in the Ivy League. The University of Pennsylvania made a highly publicized, highly scrutinized decision several months ago to allow a biological man named Will Thomas to join their women’s swim team.
Thomas, who had been a member of the school’s men’s swim team for two years, announced that he was actually a female named Lia. Capitulating to the spirit of the moment, promoted and powered by bullying online social media mobs, Penn permitted him to join the team. Since doing so, Thomas has unsurprisingly demolished female competitors and set multiple event records. The latest? Here he is dominating the field and setting a record in the Ivy League conference championship’s 500-meter freestyle (click the story to see video of the finish):
The margin of victory is jarring, and demonstrative of the immense nature of this injustice. And while I’m thankful that the vast majority of people in our culture seem to still acknowledge Catherine Buroker as the rightful champion (seriously, despite the cesspool of villainy that is social media, click on that tweet above and scroll down to read the replies…it will reestablish your faith in humanity to some degree), it doesn’t change the fact that Penn and the supposed intellectual sophisticates of the Ivy League have forever deprived an accomplished female athlete of her earned achievement.
As a society we can be compassionate to people like Will Thomas and his struggles with gender dysphoria without demonstrating such a galling lack of compassion towards Catherine Buroker and all other female athletes. Allowing biological males, with a male skeletal and muscular physiology, to compete against females necessarily undermines any meaningful justification for male/female sports divisions. Either there is a definitive physical advantage for males or there is not. If there is not, then end all women’s sports. But if there is (and there quite plainly and obviously is), then devise whatever system you find to be sensitive to those with gender dysphoria that doesn’t involve victimizing hard-working female competitors.
Meanwhile, as many people regard the Republican Georgia gubernatorial primary as a competition between two high-profile candidates, incumbent Brian Kemp and former Senator David Perdue, it was an also-ran outsider that drew the most attention this week. A professional educator with a PhD from Regent University, Kandiss Taylor, has adopted a most interesting campaign slogan in her quest to win the governor’s chair: “Jesus, Guns, Babies.”
See for yourself:
First of all, “Jesus guns babies” could be interpreted to suggest the Savior of humanity really has it in for kids. It makes me think that one commenter was right when he suggested that at least we now know what happened to the magazine editor that crafted this baby:
That makes me laugh every time I see it. But on a more serious note, I have to admit I’m a little uncomfortable with this appropriation of Jesus for political purposes. In all these kinds of situations I’m reminded of the famous response Abraham Lincoln offered when asked if he thought God was on his side in the Civil War. The 16th president acknowledged that while he did, he also knew that the folks in the Confederacy certainly felt the same way, and thus it was far wiser to be consumed not with the question of whose side God was on, but whether or not we are on God’s side.
Wise words. I think any fair person could make a legitimate argument that what Taylor is doing here is using Jesus to get votes the same way that some businesses attempt to use Jesus to push product. The former slaps Christ’s name on the side of their bus, connecting Jesus to the radical political positions of the candidate. The latter slaps His name on their business, connecting Jesus to the quality of their product and manner in which they run the shop.
Obviously I’m not suggesting that a person – politician, businessman, or whoever – shy away from professing Christ or acknowledging their faith. Confess His name without hesitation. But that is a far different proposition than implying that a vote for you is a vote for Jesus. Why? Well, for the very reason that Kandiss Taylor represents.
From just a modicum of surface-level research, it seems quite clear that Taylor is a proponent of some of the wild conspiracy theories tied to the QAnon myth factory. The group dabbles in incitement, rumor-mongering, and bearing false witness.
Tying the name of the Savior to that combination of qualities not only takes His embodiment of Truth and disastrously connects it to insane conspiracy fantasies, it could also easily diminish His lure and desirability in the eyes of the lost who are looking for any reason to continue running away from the light.
Maybe that’s why Mark Tooley offered this hypothesis:
I tend to agree. It was a conviction that hit me years ago when I had my own radio show. In an effort to find my niche, I started billing myself as, “the voice of the Christian right.” To say it’s presumptuous to claim to be the voice of Christ is a bit of an understatement. And looking back at some of the things I would say and the issues I would speak out on – issues that were clearly matters of personal preference and not biblical priority – let’s just say I’ve done my fair share of repenting.
We tend to always read the third commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain to mean we should not use the name of God in a profane way. That’s certainly true, but surely attaching His matchless name to our own personal agenda counts as well.
ICYMI…
I spoke last week on what Jesus thinks about the Scriptures. If you’d like to see it, here you go!
Also, here are a couple articles I wrote this week that you might enjoy:
I work on not attributing things to God that are not His, so I guess that lines up pretty much with your last line.
Didn't know this had a interactive portion to it! I'm technology and new fangled email sub stacking challenged. Keep up the great work sir! The Pool House is grateful for you!