Dear Reader,
This week’s newsletter is a little different in content from previous ones. I’ve received some longer emails in response to some of what I’ve written over the past couple of weeks, so in appreciation of the interaction, I wanted to publish them here and honor the conversation.
Not to worry: I’ve still included some Hot Takes, an important Post(erity) post, and some fun Fresh Linkage for you. However, as this newsletter is first and foremost about connecting and staying connected with readers, it seems appropriate to share the space every now and then. Enjoy the musings of some of your fellow readers (and writers) - you’re among good company.
As always, thanks for reading.
Craig
PS: As a reminder (and as these folks did), you’re welcome and encouraged to email me directly with feedback, ideas, links, etc. at cmdunham [at] gmail [dot] com. Just know that, unless you specifically tell me not to, I may quote you here (though it will always be anonymously).
Hot Takes
Some hot takes this week converging along the lines of rights, freedom, and liberty:
Gallup's latest update on lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender identification finds that 5.6% of U.S. adults identify as LGBT. What’s most interesting about the study (to me, at least) is Americans’ self-identification as LGBT by generation:
Gallup’s conclusion is as follows:
“One of the main reasons LGBT identification has been increasing over time is that younger generations are far more likely to consider themselves to be something other than heterosexual…At a time when Americans are increasingly supportive of equal rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people, a growing percentage of Americans identify themselves as LGBT. With younger generations far more likely than older generations to consider themselves LGBT, that growth should continue.”
I don’t disagree with their conclusion, but I do question their premise. Could it be that the dramatic increase of the two most recent generations’ LGBT sexual “self-identification” has less to do with whether people are or aren’t gay and more to do with the propaganda that they could and should be? Might it be that more people - especially young people - aren’t just “going gay” because they are, but are possibly being recruited and/or brainwashed to do/be so?
Commenting on the study, Rod Dreher wrote in The American Conservative, that,
“This is the effect of the collapse of cultural standards, and the propaganda campaign waged in the media and in schools…The fact that between my generation and my children’s, the number of self-identified transgenders has increased by 900 percent, testifies to the final victory of the Sexual Revolution in destroying all the traditional sources of the Self.
I agree, but with empathy, not judgment. We now have multiple generations who are increasingly confused by an ever-increasing onslaught of falsehoods about human sexuality - others’ and their own. The confusion is massive and running rampant; the results are the numbers we see in the chart above, too often representing broken lives and relationships that stem from gender dysphoria and irreversible life decisions. My heart breaks for this increasing reality in America.
With the aforementioned in mind, much is rightly being made of the significance of pending Equality Act legislation, which the House of Representatives passed on Thursday. A similar measure was introduced Tuesday in the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle, as a 60-vote threshold is required to bypass a filibuster. The bill, however, has the support of the White House. According to NBC News,
“The act amends the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity. It’s been introduced every year since 2015 by (Rep. David) Cicilline, one of nine LGBTQ representatives. It first passed the House in 2019 by a 236-173 vote, including eight Republicans, but failed to get a hearing in the GOP-dominated Senate.”
Andrew T. Walker, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, tweeted the following:
“A Christian ethicist friend said something profound to me earlier in the week. This person said (rough paraphrase) that, ‘the task of Christian ethics right now is to give accurate descriptions of reality.’”
Reality in this situation requires outlining the full scope of the proposed bill. Walker, along with bill opponents Alliance Defending Freedom and The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is quoted in this helpful FAQ article from The Gospel Coalition about what we’re really talking about here. Unfortunately (though not surprisingly), his description is not encouraging:
“The bill represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in America. Given that it touches areas of education, public accommodation, employment, and federal funding, were it to pass, its sweeping effects on religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of conscience would be both historic and also chilling. Virtually no area of American life would emerge unscathed from the Equality Act’s reach. No less significant would be the long-term effects of how the law would shape the moral imagination of future generations.”
Don’t believe the bill’s name or the rhetoric surrounding it; what’s really at stake with the so-called Equality Act is not LGBTQ rights and protections but religious freedom and personal liberty. Deviant sexuality has always been around throughout history; its legal imposition on an entire civilization and its citizenry is what’s new here.
As if on cue, a convergence of all this is Amazon and Target quietly attempting to remove books that go against the LGBTQ narrative from their bookshelves:
“Amazon this week yanked When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement from its main web store, its Kindle servers and its audiobook lineup with no explanation, even as the book had been available on the site for three years with no apparent controversy.
Kudos to the American Unity Fund, who despite their opposite stance, get it:
Whether in support of LGBTQ or other causes, history illustrates where censorship and the loss of liberty can go. Friend and “friendly neighborhood historian,” Bill Petro, documents the ancient practice of “damnatio memoriae,” or “the condemnation of the memory of a person,” in his recent newsletter. I commend it to you as a fascinating study of history and excellent illustration of why preservation of free speech - even that with which one disagrees - matters.
Sharing Space: Hearing from and Responding to Readers
More on Limbaugh
“Thanks again for a thought-provoking newsletter. I feel similar to your reader who wrote about having the time to do all you do, and I'm also in that 50-year-old category with only one kid who is reasonably self-sufficient! Of course, my schedule is often a bit erratic given what I do for a living, and I also admit to feeling some trepidation that my one and only kid has a year and a half left until college so I'm trying to enjoy spending time with her while I can, sometimes at the expense of ignoring the rest of the family so I can just go read a book or something.
I would never ‘dance on the grave’ of the deceased as you alluded to regarding the left and Rush Limbaugh. I always remember that the person could be somebody's child, parent, or spouse. In fact, I believe he was married four different times with the first three ending in divorce, so while he was a conservative, apparently ‘sanctity of marriage’ wasn't high on the priority list unless it came to gay people.
However, I do believe that our society is worse off as a result of what he spewed on the airwaves. He was all the worst of social media before social media existed - disseminating not just disagreement but name-calling and hatred of those on the other side. He didn't become a famous conservative radio host because he just talked about lower taxes and deregulation. Here are some of his greatest hits:
‘Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?’
‘Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.’
‘They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?’
‘We need segregated buses…This is Obama’s America.’
‘I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.’
‘You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.’
‘Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.’
‘Obama & Oprah Are Only Successful Because They’re Black.’
‘Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.’
He gave license to closet racists and xenophobes to be less closeted, and our world is worse off as a result. I think you are the perfect example of a conservative for whom I have an immense amount of respect. We may not always agree on all issues, but you carry yourself with a dignity and a civility and personal integrity that commands respect. There is not one thing on the above list of quotes that would ever come out of your mouth. While I totally defend his First Amendment right to spew the garbage above (and even for radio stations to sanction it by their broadcasting of it), it disheartens me that there are people on this planet that take all that to heart and embrace those beliefs.”
Though speaking of not wanting to go all Riverdance on Rush’s grave, there’s some soft-shoe here that perhaps merits a comment or two.
In my initial post, I linked to an article with many of the quotes above (though there remains some question as to whether or not he actually said all of them as quoted), none of which I condone. Thus, I’m in general solidarity with the sentiment that it’s hard to imagine a context in which these statements could ever be justified.
However (and risking the overly generous compliment of being “the perfect example of a conservative”), let me push back just a bit through the words of another reader whom I’ll out here simply so you’ll subscribe to his own Substack newsletter. Seth was on the radio in Chicago for 10 years, and did seven years of syndicated TV. He writes:
“Here’s what I remember about Limbaugh, listening to him from roughly 4th grade to college:
The top bit I’ll always remember from Rush was him talking to a young boy who’s dog had just been killed by a car.
He was funny. He spoke to the common man.
And he wasn’t negative or downtrodden.
He believed in common decency (even if he had a less than perfect record on the airwaves with the comments mentioned). Rush took calls from those who disagreed with him and treated them well. Compared to the name-calling that President Trump ushered in to modern politics, Rush was a saint by comparison.
He always painted a hopeful picture of the future, which stands in sharp contrast to the disaster porn of modern journalism where everything is “literally going to kill” somebody.
Seth continues:
“What I believe many conservatives are saying in the wake of Rush’s death can be understood in three parts:
Rush re-invented radio, single-handedly. He was the Tom Brady of the talk format.
Rush made a lot of us in the middle of the country feel less alone when we were alienated by the mainstream press. (Keep in mind, my opinion of the mainstream media comes from working with people at CNN, USA Today, The Washington Post, ESPN, and a lot of contacts in Hollywood. From everything I've seen, most people in media really do hold significant animosity towards ‘flyover America.’)
The standard by which Rush is judged is quite different from the likes of Nick Cannon, who was more openly racist, more recently, and was defended by the media. He now has his job back.”
So, as I mentioned in my original post, I share some of the distaste, but not completely.
LogiTech Ad Not So Logical
“Thank you for continuing to send out this letter. Deeper and thoughtful (even if long) is my preference over shallow and quick. Our culture has never been more ignorant in all areas of life. We live in the age of ‘10-second sound bites’ and ‘Alexa/Google can tell me that information, so why learn it?’ It is sad for me to say my occupation is leading the charge to make the world so convenient that our brains are optional. It is good to have things to buck this trend. For those who don't like the length, a quick index at the top to point to what might interest them?
Also, the irony in the Logitech commercial made me laugh out loud. I agree with you that they don't really seem to mean what they say and are trading on ambiguity. But at face value, it was absurd. A company built on the foundations of computational logic and mathematics invites us to ‘defy logic.’ Okay, you first! I dare them to produce a camera, a mouse, or a keyboard, that doesn't make use of logic. It was yet another example of just how strange our culture has become. Our teachers tell us there is no truth! Our judgmental culture, we ought not to judge! Science tells us that science is the only path to the truth (while neglecting to publish the peer-reviewed scientific mechanism that demonstrates their case). Our historians say that truth is unknowable. Where does it all end? My head hurts.”
This was a fun email that did such a better job of plainly explaining the silliness of Logitech’s ad from the inside while I tried to explain it theologically from the outside.
As to where it all ends, I’m not sure it does until it does, which leaves us with one of two options: give into and get swept away by the craziness, or seek what is true, good, and beautiful wherever we can find it and do our best to live God’s Word in His world.
In a post back in July of 2016, I wrote,
“My family and I just returned from a two-week trip through the Midwest to see family and friends, as well as do a few "vacation-like" things along the way (Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, The Corn Palace). Two weeks, 10 states, 3,500 miles, and 55 hours in a van together were as fun as they could be (most of the time), and while I'm glad to be back, I'm grateful to have had the time away.
During our trip, we were not immune to the disheartening news of the recent shootings in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas. As we listened on the radio and visited with relatives and others, it was not difficult to pick up on the discouragement and dismay from all that has been happening nationally.
While meeting with a good friend in Colorado Springs, he asked a desperate question: ‘What are you going to do in response to all this?’
I paused, for like most of us, I have felt helpless in thinking about ‘doing’ anything that would elicit real change. Sure, I could post a passionate rant on Facebook or jump in on a protest march somewhere as part of the last of our travel plans, but how far would either of those go - really - toward bringing about a true long-term solution? I can pray - and have - but I confess I struggle in doing even that, as it seems such a small response in the face of such awful evil.
Almost apologetically, I looked at my friend, shook my head, and told him this: ‘I'm going to try to raise four girls and lead a school of 200 students in Bozeman, Montana, to love God and love their neighbors as themselves. I'm going to do all I can to make sure they read the greatest works of literature so as to learn not to be afraid of evil. And I'm going to teach them about the fallenness of our human condition and plead with them to embrace the hope of the Gospel to deal with it.
That's it. That's all I got.’”
I’m not leading a school anymore, but I’ve still got my girls…and where I work…and the town, state, and nation in which I live…and whatever voice I have here online.
So, to answer my friend, I have no idea where it ends, but I do know where I am.
That’s it. That’s all I got.
The Church and Nature
“You’ve hit a real hot button for us with this week’s newsletter so I need to reply!
So glad to see the Wisdom Pyramid and your connection to it with Shane McClaflin’s work in Yellowstone National Park. Our family has been going to YNP - ‘The Center of the Earth’ (our son’s belief) - regularly for all of my life from Washington, Colorado, Alaska, and Montana!
I feel one of the great weaknesses in the Church is the lack of teaching regarding nature and God’s creation:
God created the LAND for us to live on and He loves it! ‘The eyes of the Lord are always upon the LAND He created.’ Deuteronomy 11:12
We need to be taking care of our home—the earth. Psalm 115:16
His creation, the land, the earth, proves His existence, and that means that people are without excuse for belief in Him. Romans 1:20
The Lord’s creation is so great that it should be studied/meditated on by all of us who believe in Him! Psalm 111:2 and Psalm 145:5
The Church rarely serves up sermons on the earth, the land, trees, plants, water, soil—all of which make it possible for us to be living beings with the capability of worship. The environmental groups and organizations that have a spiritual underpinning (ex. Plant With Purpose, Target Earth, Evangelical Environmental Network, Eco-Justice Collaborative, etc.), are not promulgated, supported, or encouraged by the Church to those sitting in the pews; hence, people are unaware of them or not interested in ‘nature’ and aren’t involved.
Bozeman is a hotbed of environmental organizations that lobby for the land, the wildlife, the waters, the National Parks, Montana, the US and the world, but most folks cannot even name these groups. I know that most are not of a spiritual bent, but nevertheless, they are unwittingly perpetuating what we Christians need to survive on earth, and the church is not involved or purposing to partner with them. As individuals we are free to, of course, but should the Church be involved in the third tier of the Wisdom Pyramid, just as we promote pro-life organizations, missionaries, orphans and widows, Habitat for Humanity, etc., that are not technically ‘in the Church?’ Rhetorical question here, I guess.”
This was an email that kind of came out of left field for me, but I’m glad it did, as I want to think and write more about the relationship between the Church and nature.
Growing up on the Plains in the Midwest and having since lived half my life near a Rocky Mountain or two in the West, my experience with nature has been more than many, and yet I’ve only scratched the surface of forming a practical theology of what the Church’s responsibility is and should be concerning creation.
These four posts (1, 2, 3, 4) - the first three, written in June of 2008, and especially the fourth, written in July of 2010 - capture some thoughts and ideas about nature, but I want to follow further this trail and give deeper consideration to what the Church is called to do. From the sounds of the letter, I may have a mentor waiting in the wings.
Post(erity): “The Heart of the Matter“
Each week, I choose a post from the past that seems apropos of this week’s post (of course, you’re always welcome to search the archives yourself whenever you like).
After reading the Hot Takes above, it might be easy for some to write me off as old-fashioned (at best) or homophobic (at worst). If so, I invite you back to this May 21, 2008, post, “The Heart of the Matter.” I still stand by my words, and only hope for an honest and fair reading of the heart that informed them. Thanks for taking the time.
Fresh Linkage
US Postal Service Revealed Its First New Mail Truck in Over 30 Years — and Some Will Be Electric - Cute, but I would still prefer my own brown UPS truck.
In Cockroach Fights, Bet on the Roach with the Bigger Respiratory System - Information that would be helpful if one had a gambling problem.
Phil Collins sounds a little rundown and the rest of the cast is definitely older (with the exception of Philip Michael Thomas). Now where did I put those pastels?
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