The news this week ranged from frustrating to nauseating—David Daleiden’s indictment, an evangelical leader’s endorsement of a biblically illiterate strip-club owner for President of the United States, and of course, the ongoing Rainbow Blitzkrieg.
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I was incredibly disappointed when Dr. Jerry Falwell Jr. of Liberty University, a bastion of conservatism and Christian thought, came out this week to endorse reality show star and business tycoon Donald Trump. I cannot for the life of me understand how any Christian leader could support Trump, a man who owns strip clubs, has cheated on two of his three wives, and is a transparent fraud when it comes to claiming any belief in Christianity. Dr. Everett Piper put it very well when he was explaining why Trump would not be invited to speak at Oklahoma Wesleyan:
Anyone who is pro-abortion is not on my side.
Anyone who calls women “pigs,” “ugly,” “fat” and “pieces of a–” is not on my side.
Anyone who mocks the handicapped is not on my side.
Anyone who has argued the merits of a government takeover of banks, student loans, the auto industry and healthcare is not on my side.
Anyone who has been on the cover of Playboy and proud of it and who brags of his sexual history with multiple women and who owns strip clubs in his casinos is not on my side.
Anyone who believes the government can wrest control of the definition of marriage from the church is not on my side.
Anyone who ignores the separation of powers and boasts of making the executive branch even more imperial is not on my side.
But for some reason that completely escapes me, Jerry Falwell the Younger has been dazzled by the glitz and glamor of the Trump Train. This should have been expected, considering the long, fawning introduction Falwell gave Trump when he spoke at Liberty recently. By the time he was done, I almost thought I’d hear the crowd roar back, Je-RRY! Je-RRY! Je-RRY!
Wait. Wrong reality show.
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A reality show is what most mainstream news networks are looking like these days, as the situation unfolding in Alberta continues. Religious leaders are facing off with the government over whether or not Christian education will conform to the Judeo-Christian standard or that of the Sexual Revolution. The media discussions are predictably cringe-worthy, as my friend Cameron Wilson memorably put it:
Whenever I listen to the supposedly enlightened liberals of the CBC [Canada’s state broadcaster] discuss Christianity I can’t help but form a mental image of cats attempting to discuss flight. After all, a cat’s thoughts on flight would be remarkably similar in depth of analysis and attitude towards the subject as a liberal discussing matters of genuine spirituality. Both have not personally experienced that which they are discussing, and both perceive the experience as something which is inherently linked to their mortal enemies – birds for cats and conservatives for liberals. In short, when liberals discuss Christianity, they are simply incapable of being impartial.
Schools should erase old divides that force students into male and female roles, according to new guidelines released Wednesday by the Alberta government that advise teachers to let kids choose which washroom they want to use and what name appears on their report cards.
A 21-page document, introduced by Education Minister David Eggen, advised educators that students have the right to self-identify when it comes to their gender identity and gender expression…
Students, according to these much-lauded guidelines, have the right to “pick their own pronouns”—in other words:
“All individuals have the right to be addressed by their chosen name and to choose pronouns that align with their gender identity and/or gender expression,” the document states.
It goes on to say: “Some individuals may not feel included in the use of the pronouns ‘he’ or ‘she’ and may prefer alternate pronouns, such as ‘ze,’ ‘zir,’ ‘hir,’ ‘they’ or ‘them,’ or might wish to express themselves or self-identify in other ways (e.g., Mx. instead or Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss, or no prefix at all).”
It’s important to note here that most of these terms seem to have been invented very recently, if not on the spot. Students are also permitted to choose their change rooms or boys and girls sports teams depending on how they choose to self-identify, and gay-straight alliance clubs have been made mandatory for all schools in Alberta.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Christians need to take note. They’re not going to let us live and let live. Accepting and affirming the dogmas of the Sexual Revolution are not going to be optional—they’re going to be mandatory.
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And just to let Albertans know that the sports industry is onside, CTV announced with enormous satisfaction that the Edmonton “Oilers make history with the use of Pride Tape.”
If you don’t know what it is, that’s because it’s an entirely new but completely essential new hockey tape that looks like a rainbow. Have you ever wanted to make a statement about sexual behavior while you play sports? Then this might just be for you:
The Edmonton Oilers are the first NHL team to use Pride Tape, a visual show of support for young LGBTQ players.
As members of the team hit the ice on Sunday for the annual Skills Competition at Rexall Place, their sticks were wrapped in a special rainbow-coloured hockey tape, a noticeable departure from the usual black or white.
Pride Tape is a local initiative spearheaded by the University of Alberta Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services.
The Edmonton Oilers became the first NHL team to use Pride Tape during the Skills Competition at Rexall Place on Sunday, January 24, 2016.
“It’s a simple, yet powerful concept…we believe that hockey should include everyone regardless of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” said faculty director Dr. Kristopher Wells.
I don’t even like watching professional sports, but if I did, I feel like Dr. Wells is definitely the kind of guy who would ruin it for everyone else.
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Speaking of professional sports, the Olympics has just knuckled under, as well:
“To require surgical anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights,” the IOC says.
The reality of male versus female physiology is irrelevant here. As soon as we figure out whether Bruce Jenner won his Olympic medals as a guy or a girl, everything will be clear to everyone. We wouldn’t want the gender ideologues to get testy.
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One of these days, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente is going to get herself in trouble. She’s writing columns that make a lot of sense—and surgically stab holes in the emerging transgender consensus. Like her column “Kids pay the price of transgender politics,” from earlier this week:
Debra Soh was a gender dysphoric child. She liked trucks, not dolls. She hated being a girl. In the 1980s, the idea that a kid might transition to another sex was completely unknown. “My parents allowed me to wear boys’ clothing and shave my head, to live as a girl who otherwise looked and behaved like a boy,” she wrote in The Wall Street Journal. By her late teens, she outgrew her dysphoria. Her parents’ support, she says, “helped me work things out.”
Today, a childlike Debra might be treated at a gender clinic (where the waiting lists are very long). Canada was renowned for having one of the best in the world – the child and youth clinic at CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. The clinic’s former head, Ken Zucker, is world-renowned for his path-breaking research. Hundreds of parents – and former clients – testify to the care and guidance they received there.
But last month, the clinic was abruptly shut down, and Dr. Zucker was dismissed. CAMH, after releasing an external review of the clinic by a pair of independent psychiatrists, issued a bafflegab statement saying that not all the clinic’s practices were “in step with the latest thinking.”
In fact, Dr. Zucker was the latest victim of the raging battles in gender-identity politics. Critics say CAMH’s decision has sacrificed science to ideology, and put children on the front line. They think it’s a disaster for science, and for kids.
Dr. Zucker, of course, could not be tolerated, regardless of his qualifications. His career posed a threat to the beliefs of gender ideologues, and as the result, “transgender activists have been hounding Dr. Zucker for years.” Many in the world of science have been outraged:
The public humiliation of Dr. Zucker is a shock to many. More than 400 people – including leading clinicians from around the world – have signed an open letter to the CAMH board of trustees to protest the decision and the manner in which it was announced. They rightly point out that his reputation has been smeared. News coverage and subsequent media commentary (much of it by activists) left the distinct impression that he must have been guilty of substandard clinical practice or professional misconduct, or both.
As for CAMH, it has merely done what all too many institutions do these days when they feel the heat from the political agitators du jour. It caved. Too bad for us all.
But you didn’t hear that in the news, did you? No. They assisted in the destruction of a man’s career and reputation, and the task of pointing out what was really going on fell to a columnist.
One thought on “State of the Culture: Donald Trump and rainbow hockey”
Lisa says:
I believe Willie Robertson has recently endorsed Trump as well, which was a bit of a shocker for someone who is so open about his faith. Deception. It’s everywhere.
I believe Willie Robertson has recently endorsed Trump as well, which was a bit of a shocker for someone who is so open about his faith. Deception. It’s everywhere.