Transcript
A (0:01)
Welcome to breakpoint, a daily look at an ever changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. At the recent ARC conference in London, many refer to the past year or so of conservative wins both in the US and in other Western nations as a kind of vibe shift, Perhaps. But it's also just as clear that not everyone has gotten that memo. There are many legislative bodies around the world that have doubled down on far progressive ideology, showing how different laws actually reflect wildly different understandings of reality in the human person. For example, a Colorado bill just passed through the House that would make misgendering the dead a Class 2 misdemeanor, punishable with up to 120 days in jail and $750 in fines if they happen to die of prostate cancer and their gender identity is female. That's important information for us to have, said a Democratic representative, Karen McCormick of Longmont. And so coroners and other officials who sign a death certificate that does not align with the deceased's gender identity could face punishment similar to someone who runs a brothel. Biologist and atheist Colin Wright had a whole different take on the bill, and I quote, if a female who identifies as a male dies of ovarian cancer, recording her as male would skew medical stats and obscure real biological trends with fraudulent sex data over time and across medical contexts. This will mess with how we understand and tackle health issues. Meanwhile, in Maine, the House speaker repeatedly silenced and then House Democrats officially censured state Representative Laurel Libby for arguing in session that men should not compete against women in sports, pretending instead that the matter was settled and that any opposition was discrimination. That state's legislative body is defying President Trump's recent executive order on the matter. ADF General Counsel Kristen Wagoner described that situation in Maine as, and I quote, the same old leftist playbook we've seen for years, shaming and silencing women who dare to point out the reality of what's happening in their sports and outside of the U.S. lawmakers in Scotland are working to ensure that no challenges to abortion are allowed from anywhere. According to a report from ADF International, a young American mother named Sarah Spencer was suspended from her midwifery studies in Dundee, Scotland, for posting to social media her belief that unborn children deserve protection. And it also remains unclear whether someone in Scotland could be arrested for a silent prayer against abortion in their own homes, as Vice President J.D. vance recently claimed. And in England, Kevin Lister's years long legal battle against progressive speech codes continues. A teacher Lister refused to use a student's preferred pronouns and was eventually fired, even though he was willing to accommodate by using gender neutral communication. His case is ongoing. All of these episodes reveal that, despite the recent dramatic change in the White House, nations do not live by executive orders alone. Culture matters, and culture is both reflected in and reinforced by political realities. That's especially true at the local level. America's divide, for example, especially on issues of identity and sexual morality, remains vast. In fact, the last time that our nation was so divided state by state, on an issue of such incredible moral gravity, that was over slavery. We are that divided again. So in places like California and Colorado, lawmakers are becoming even more creative in attempting to enforce their ideas while punishing anyone who opposes them. Look, it's far easier when our political conflicts are merely about different policies that aim to accomplish the same basic goal. But it's far more difficult when the political landscape is about achieving different ends altogether. More than mere disagreement about how to achieve a shared understanding of human flourishing, our political realities point to fundamentally different ideas about what human flourishing even is, or even what a human is. And because these stakes are so high, politics matters, and it will continue to matter for the foreseeable future. However, behind the questions of elections and candidates and policies are deeper questions, worldview questions. These matter even more and are reflected in more than just the political realm. We won't be able to address this worldview conflict without fighting in politics. But to fight in politics without addressing the worldview conflict that's upstream from politics will be, in the end, an exercise in futility for the Colson Center. I'm John Stonestreet with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources to live like a Christian Today, go to Breakpoint.org.