Putting the Protest in Protestant
Rod Dreher writes about his appearance on the On Point NPR show and needing to explain whether his church (Eastern Orthodox) makes room for transgender persons:
A transgender person called in and wanted to know if there was any room in my church for her. I said of course there was, because we are all sinners. That transgendered person is a precious child of God, no question. But I did not want to leave the impression that being a part of the church means that we don’t have to change, to repent. There is one standard for all Christians. I don’t know enough about transgenderism from an Orthodox theological point of view to offer any kind of pastoral counsel to that particular person, and heaven knows a call-in radio show is not the place to do that. But when host Tom Ashbrook said that “there is no place for her in your country,” or words close to that, I did not really know how to respond. It’s not true, but by the time I understood the claim, the moment had passed. I think that many well-intentioned liberals simply cannot stand the thought of diversity unless they set the terms. Like very many liberals, Ashbrook was genuinely perplexed that I, as an Orthodox Christian, expect gays and lesbians to be celibate. I told him all Christians who are not married are expected to be celibate, and I said that this was what all Christians in all ages believed until the day before yesterday.
So why don’t those who are so tolerant of the marginal so intolerant of Donald Trump? Do churches need to make room for him? Maybe it’s that he is so obviously wicked. But where in the post-1960s world of liberated selves where all moral restraints are borderline authoritarian — where oh where — does the moral high ground to judge and condemn Donald Trump?
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