Issue 19 - Critical Theory, MAID, and Corrections
Given the length of the last issue (which I’d encourage you to go back and read if you haven’t already), I will just provide a few links today. Hope you enjoy.
JD Greear, pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, has been hosting a “Gospel and Politics” series over the past few months. This brief interview with Summit member Neil Shenvi provides an excellent overview of “Critical Theory” and how it intersects with Christian beliefs. I strongly encourage you to give it a listen (it actually doesn’t have a ton to do with politics, so if you don’t get around to it before the election, I’d encourage you to tune in anyway).
In a sign of how entrenched gender ideology is in the next generation: 58% of Gen Z and Millenial women believe “saying there are only two genders” is a red flag in a potential partner. This beat out “they identify as a Communist” (55%). More than 1 in 3 Gen Z and Millennial men also view a stated belief in two genders as a dating red flag.
A heartbreaking essay about assisted suicide in Canada. This becomes the logical endpoint when we deny the Imago Dei and instead prioritize conceptions of “personhood” and elevate autonomy as superseding all other values. In the past, debates around euthanasia centered around people with debilitating, terminal illness. As of this year, Canada will begin allowing people with mental illness, and no physical illness, to elect the procedure. A joint committee of the Canadian Congress also recommends that “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) be extended to teenagers. Although this hasn’t yet happened, it is supported by 71 percent of Canadians. As the influence of Christian morals continues to wane, I suspect this will be coming to the US before too long.
I wanted to acknowledge my failure to properly attribute one of my points in the last newsletter. While it has now been fixed in the archived version I wanted to recognize my mistake since few if any of you will see that version. In my suggestion to “Live not by lies” I linked to Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s essay that coined (or at least popularized) the phrase, but I did not credit him with the expression (nor put it in quotes to be clear it wasn’t mine). I also failed to acknowledge Rod Dreher’s book of the same name, which introduced me to the expression. Dreher’s book was one of the big motivators for me to start considering how to prepare for life in a post-Christian America. Apologies for being lax in my credits!