OPINION:
This past week, the Supreme Court heard what many call one of the most consequential cases before it this term. It’s the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, which involves the banning of sex-transition treatments for minors.
As expected, the establishment media are portraying this as a landmark case for “sexual minorities” and their rights, but don’t be distracted by MSNBC’s hyperventilating. U.S. v. Skrmetti is really about one thing and one thing only: What does it mean to be human?
The key question before the nine justices of the Supreme Court could not be more basic: How do we define the human being? Everything else is just a distraction and political theater.
Before anyone can resolve any dispute about human rights, they must first define the human being. In other words, what exactly is a person?
Are we morally culpable beings? Can we choose our actions, or do our appetites and desires define us? Can we rise above our instincts and inclinations (sexual or otherwise)? Can we choose to do something other than what we want to do?
Who are we, and where do we come from? Are we merely products of the primordial ooze? Are we just the end result of the survival of the fittest? Are we simply the product of happenstance of chance and, therefore, of no ontological significance over and above that of a dog, a pig, a cat or a cow? Do we have an awareness of right and wrong, and are we, therefore, “different” from all the rest of what we see around us?
Moreover, why do we believe in justice? Why do we care about civil rights? Why are we indignant when someone diminishes our dignity? Why do tolerance, love, inclusion, equality and fairness matter? Why is rape wrong? Why should slavery be reviled? Why isn’t greed good? Why was the Holocaust a bad thing? Why do people care about such things while pelicans and peacocks don’t? These are the questions the justices should be asking, and the answers will serve as the necessary predicate for everything that follows.
Five thousand years of Judeo-Christian tradition affirms that we are the imago Dei, not the imago dog. We are made in the image of God. We are not animals. This worldview — this biblical worldview — is the only worldview that elevates mankind to an objective good and, thereby, stands in direct opposition to history’s hell-bent determination to diminish men and women to little more than products of their base level instincts and the power plays of the Darwinian swamp.
The transgender labels of those opposing “Skrmetti” embrace an illogical and broken anthropology. Their LGBTQ nomenclature dumbs down human identity to little more than what Rosaria Butterfield describes as a “category error.”
“[We] are struggling … in a world that has falsely declared sexual orientation to be a true moniker of personhood,” says Ms. Butterfield, a former professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. “[It’s a mistake to] suggest that there is such a thing as a gay person, or a lesbian person, a bisexual person or [a trans person]. These are really not a separate category of personhood. Although that very much is what the LGBT rights movement wants you to believe … the category of sexual orientation was really invented in the 19th century. … [Transsexuality is] a verb, what people do, [it is] not a noun, who people are.”
When you accept the definition of the person as “being” trans, queer, homosexual or even heterosexual, for that matter, you have just admitted that you think those who have a given appetite are defined by that inclination. You are essentially saying that you think that’s just “who they are.” You are declaring people to be adjectives rather than nouns.
This is the ultimate insult to God and God’s creation. We are not defined by our desires, our bellies or our libido. We are not animals. We are human beings and have free will to choose our behaviors (sexual or otherwise). I’ll say it again: We are the imago Dei; we are not the imago dog! We are defined by who we are, not by what we want to do.
“No persons should ultimately define themselves by their sin or proclivities. We are not homosexuals or heterosexuals. We are the creation of God. We are ALL to be defined by [His] image, and ones for whom Jesus died.” — Jim Garlow
“It is a mistake for anyone to say that he is gay, lesbian or [trans]. This is graffiti painted on the side of the Holy of Holies, which defaces human dignity and mocks the image of God.” — Daniel C. Mattson
If our answer as to who we are is wrong, everything thereafter is a fool’s errand. If the justices of the Supreme Court fail in defining the human being, all their efforts for human rights will fail.
• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery).
Please read our comment policy before commenting.