Christians and Transgender Pronoun Usage: Some Articles and Resources

What should Christians think of the practice of "volunteering pronouns" and using someone's preferred pronouns if they differ from their biological sex? Here are a number of articles that address the issue by arguing that Christians should not engage in this practice 

NEW: Ask Chris T ollefsen: An Ethics Advice Column (May 30, 2024)

• This is the question Tollefsen is addressing in this column:

I’m wondering if it is ever permissible to use the “new” or chosen name and pronouns of a person suffering from gender dysphoria (that are not in accord with their biological sex) despite this action’s implicitly affirming this incongruence of their thoughts with human anthropology and biological truth? 

The specific situation that comes to mind is if a patient presents to the hospital in a mental health crisis (a suicide attempt) and [hospital staff’s] refusal to use [his preferred] names or pronouns would be counter-therapeutic, diminish patient–physician trust/rapport, and exacerbate the mental suffering of a person in need of acute psychiatric care. 

 

Christians Volunteering Pronouns? by Andrew T. Walker at American Reformer (August 19, 2022)

A Response to an Employer's Request for Pronouns by Amy K. Hall at The Stream (May 11, 2023).  Provides a nice example from a real-life situation as well as a template of what to communicate and how to do with courage and wisdom.

Why I No Longer Use Transgender Pronouns--and Why You Shouldn't Either by Rosario Butterfield at Reformation 21 (April 3, 2023)

Words as Weapons: Why We Must Stand Our Grounds Over Pronouns by Jonathon Van Maren at The European Conservative (February 7, 2022)

"Language is the first domino in the war over reality—and pronouns have nothing to do with politeness and everything to do with ideological submission... 

"What do we actually cede if we play along with ‘preferred pronouns’? We are conceding that the person demanding that he be called a ‘she’ actually is a woman. Once that is established, what grounds do we have for keeping him out of the female bathroom, or off the girl’s swim team, or out of a rape crisis center for women traumatized by men? The simple answer is that there are none. He has demanded that we call him a woman, and we have agreed to do so to be courteous. That courtesy will then be used as a bludgeon." 

 Is It a Sin for a Christian to Use Transgender Pronouns? by Michael Brown at Ask Dr. Brown (April 4, 2023)

Examining the Case for "Pronoun Hospitality" by Richard Klaus at White Rose Review (January 6, 2021)

Cognitive Liberty: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Conscience and "What Are Your Pronouns?" Video interview with Dr. Nicholas Meriwether at Ratio Christi: Thoughtful Christianity (September 30, 2022)

• The U.S. Sixth Circuit of Appeals decision in favor of Dr. Nicholas Meriwether.

Why Pronouns Matter... a Lot by Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason (6/1/2021).

Why Agree to Use Preferred Names but Not Preferred Pronouns? by Amy K. Hall at Stand to Reason (1/20/2022).

Transgenderism: Books and Articles

Some books and articles I found useful in preparing my talk on transgender issues:

Articles:

Reasoning About Gender by Elliot R. Crozat

Abstract: In this paper, I explore two views about gender. I refer to the first as gender dichotomism. I refer to the second as transgenderism. Next, I argue that (1) the burden of proof is on the apologist of transgenderism to show why gender dichotomism is false, and (2) this burden has not been met. Finally, I provide supplementary notes to clarify how certain terms are used in the paper. I forward the points in this paper in the hope that they help to engender further dialogue in the spirit of Socratic clenches.

A New York Times Writer's Reckless Hit Piece on My New Transgender Book by Ryan T. Anderson

Ryan Anderson responds to a negative review of his book When Harry Became Sally.

Understanding Our Transgender Moment--An interview with Ryan T. Anderson

The Philosophical Contradictions of the Transgender Worldview by Ryan T. Anderson

Here Are Five Reasons Transgender Policies Are Harmful by Ryan T. Anderson

Transgender Ideology Hurts Kids by Ryan T. Anderson

Parents Just Lost Custody of Teenage Daughter Who Wants to "Transition" to a Boy: What You Need to Know by Ryan T. Anderson

Michelle A. Cretella, “Gender Dysphoria in Children and Suppression of Debate” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons vol. 21, no. 2 (Summer 2016)

Pressing Pause on the "Transgender Moment": Ryan T. Anderson's "When Harry Became Sally" by Matthew J. Franck

Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme by Walt Heyer

This Man Received 167 Sex-Change Surgeries: He Lives in a World of Regret by Walt Heyer

The Transgender Matrix: It's Time to Choose the Red Pill by Walt Heyer

50 Years of Sex Changes, Mental Disorders, and Too Many Suicides by Walt Heyer

Casualties of a Social, Psychological, and Medical Fad: The Dangers of Transgender Ideology in Medicine by Daniel Payne

What's Wrong with the New NIH Study on Transgender Kids? by Jane Robbins and Erin Tuttle

Alix Spiegel, “Q & A: Therapists on Gender Identity Issues in Kids” NPR (May 8, 2008).

"Here, NPR talks with two psychologists who take radically different approaches to the issue — one whose treatment aims to help kids feel comfortable with their biological sex, and the other whose approach is to allow the children to live as the gender with which they most closely identify at the time."

New Book on Transgender Issues

Owen Strachan has a piece in Public Discourse entitled Truth for a Transitioning Time: Andrew Walker's "God and the Transgender Debate". As is evident from the title his essay is devoted to Andrew Walker's new book.

Here are the beginning lines from Strachan's essay:

We live in a brave new world. I think this every time that, in discussing a friend’s career change, I use the phrase, “He is transitioning to something new.” That once-harmless word, transitioning, has of late acquired great psychosocial baggage. It now speaks of an individual’s claiming a new “gender identity,” which may well involve significant physical alteration.

The “transgender” phenomenon has become a national sensation, but we are shockingly ill-equipped for the conversation. The average genial man or woman—the type to follow traditional scripts and generally pursue normality—is unsettled by little boys entering the little girls’ room, perhaps deeply so. But they may still struggle to articulate why, precisely. Most people today do not traffic in the deep things of exegesis or metaphysics (in many cases, their religious community has actually helped to breed such instincts out of them), but they know something is amiss.

As usual, theology and philosophy can help us understand why. The transgender phenomenon represents not merely a new behaviorism or a new form of self-branding, to use a postmodern conceit. The transgender phenomenon signifies a new ontology. This new ontology has considerable resonance with ancient paganism, a worldview that deifies the natural order, removes the self from religious and spiritual constraints, and sexualizes humanity. 

In such thinking, man bears the image of the gods, but not of God. We are sexual beings, made to embody a kind of cosmic lustful expressiveness. We are fulfilled when we deny all creational differences (and thus divine design) and embrace our raw, native, animal desires. Transgender ideology results in a deeply disordered anthropology.

The rest of Strachan's review is well worth reading.