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This article was originally published at the American Thinker on October 9, 2019.
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October 24, 2019 (American Thinker) — In a letter he wrote in 1953, C.S. Lewis lamented the “apostasy of the great part of Europe from the Christian faith.” This apostasy, Lewis warned, presented “very grave dangers.” If Lewis could see Europe today, he would rightly conclude that his warnings went almost completely unheeded.
Lewis continued:
For my part I believe we ought to work not only at spreading the Gospel (that certainly) but also at a certain preparation for the Gospel. It is necessary to recall many to the law of nature before we talk about God. For Christ promises forgiveness of sins: but what is that to those who, since they do not know the law of nature, do not know that they have sinned? … Moral relativity is the enemy we have to overcome before we tackle Atheism.
If moral relativity was an “enemy” in 1950s Europe, I'm not sure of the correct noun to describe what it is in twenty-first-century America. What's a more definitive word than “enemy”? For, while atheism is still quite rare in the U.S., moral relativism is rampant — far more rampant than in 1953 Europe, I would wager. The National Basketball Association (NBA) provides the latest in a long line of recent examples.
Since so many of us pay little to no attention to the NBA, you may have forgotten their “principled” stand on the North Carolina “bathroom bill.” In late February of 2016, ignoring science and sound morality, liberals on the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance that would allow men into women's restrooms, locker rooms, and so on. As is typical with the Left, the ordinance applied not only to city-owned property, but to private businesses as well. In other words, Charlotte liberals “legislated morality,” and they did so to the point of forcing all of the city's citizens to adhere to perverse liberal dogma.
To correct this gross injustice, the North Carolina Legislature passed a commonsense law (H.B. 2) that reversed the foolish Charlotte city ordinance. In opposition to H.B. 2, later in 2016, ignoring the long understood truths on sex and sexuality, and goose-stepping along with the rest of the liberal elite, the NBA decided to pull its all-star game from the city of Charlotte. To justify the NBA's discrimination against the good people of North Carolina, an NBA spokesman declared, “We have been guided … by the long-standing core values of our league. These include not only diversity, inclusion, fairness and respect for others but also the willingness to listen and consider opposing points of view.”
Guess who doesn't “consider opposing points of view”: the godless communists who run China. Because it has billions of dollars on the line, when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong — and the Chinese reacted as communists do in such situations — many in the NBA scrambled to grovel before the totalitarian state.
In other words, according to the “morals” of the NBA, allowing men into women's restrooms and locker rooms is worth a “principled” stand, but supporting liberty in Hong Kong is a no-no. What's more, it seems the NBA is willing to enthusiastically support political protests that are anti-American but cautiously rebuke protests that are anti-Chinese.
At The Federalist, David Marcus was astounded by the NBA's hypocrisy. He wrote,
The NBA has very consciously crafted an image as a woke corporation. While showing support for protests against the U.S. government, and even engaging in a protest such as their stunt in Charlotte, the NBA is trying to position itself as a moral entity. Even as an arbiter of what is morally acceptable.
Marcus concludes, “This is cultural relativism at an astounding level.” I think we're dealing with not mere “cultural relativism” in this instance, but rather moral relativism “at an astounding level.” How askew must one's moral compass be to conclude that communism — in which millions are unjustly imprisoned and worse — is tolerable, but keeping men out of women's restrooms is repugnant? As I'm sure C.S. Lewis would agree, such ignorance of sin is indeed “astounding” — and telling.
Another astounding and telling moral collapse — thanks to the Obama administration and organizations like the NBA — is the fact that we now must debate who is a male, even in one of the most conservative parts of the U.S.! As was the case in 2015, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, my congressional district — the Georgia ninth (GA-9) — is the third most conservative district in the U.S. (Trump beat Hillary here 78% to 19%.)
Half of Pickens County, Georgia is in GA-9. The other half is in GA-14, the tenth most conservative district in the U.S. (Trump 75%, Hillary 22%). In 2016, Pickens County went for Trump over Hillary 74% to 21%. In spite of this, about a week ago, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution (AJC) reported that, per a directive from their misinformed school superintendent, Carlton Wilson, the Pickens County school system had decided “to allow transgender students to use preferred bathroom.”
Pickens County residents were justly irate and demanded a hearing. They got one, and the school board rightly reversed the superintendent's decision. The AJC, Georgia's largest — and very liberal — newspaper was quick to show its disappointment and disapproval. The headline on the news declared, “Pickens County school board no longer allows transgender students to use bathroom of their choice.”
The first sentence of the piece stated, “Bowing to pressure from parents and residents, the Pickens County Board of Education announced today that it will no longer allow transgender students to use restrooms of their choice.” “Bowing to pressure” should've read “surrendering to science” or “kowtowing to the truth,” but liberals are so blinded by their efforts to undo any and every reminder of absolute truth that they will seemingly go to no end to spread their deceit. Again, this is happening in one of the most conservative parts of America.
In what should surprise no one — because psychology isn't science and because the field is dominated by the godless — according to recent reports, the American Psychological Association (APA) “has published a guide that instructs graduate programs in psychology to end language that refers to biological differences among individuals.” Breitbart also reports that “[t]he guide was authored by the APA's Graduate Students (APAGS) subcommittee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.”
Breitbart also notes, “The guide contains an 'Action Plan' in which the APAGS committee instructs graduate programs to 'include pronouns as part of class introductions': 'We don't know someone's gender pronouns from their appearance, so it's important to ask.'” So graduate students in psychology are now going to be instructed to ignore biology further and grossly pervert the English language. Thus, future Americans seeking mental health help from these fools will be driven even further from the truth.
Portland liberals are so far removed from the truth that they've decided to ban urinals in their $195-million remodel of the Portland Building, which houses the city's administrative offices. In an email to city employees explaining this ignorant decision, Portland chief administrative officer Tom Rinehart said, “I am convinced that this is the right way to ensure success as your employer, remove arbitrary barriers in our community, and provide leadership that is reflective of our shared values.”
Similar perverse “leadership” and “values” recently led insurance giant Kaiser Permanente to promote the evil “Drag Queen Story Time.” The television ad shows a grown man dressed as a woman laughing and dancing with small children. As Tyler O'Neil rightly notes, this is a “clear attempt to normalize Drag Queen Story Hour. The smiling, laughing children are a subliminal message that full-grown men dressing up like women and acting sexual around children is fun, not disturbing.”
The extent that moral relativism has corrupted our culture is most disturbing. America will never truly be “great” until our lives, families, and institutions — corporate, educational, medical, political, spiritual, and the like — are dominated by the truth.
Trevor Grant Thomas: At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America.
[email protected]
Published with permission from the American Thinker.