So how do we deal with identity politics? We speak the truth in love. To do otherwise is cruelty. This is our witness to Jesus Christ. It is to recognize that he is the one who defines truth. He is the one who defines our identity. When we play about with our identity, we play about with rejecting Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we play with idolatry. To promote identities opposed to our God-given identity is idolatry. This is because we turn ourselves into identity creators when identity is a gift of God. That is the argument of Toby Sumpter’s blog post that I referenced in my first post on this subject. In order to give some concreteness to “speaking the truth in love, I want to interact with Toby’s piece.
If you have read Toby Sumpter’s piece, I want to note one disagreement with him. He argues that using preferred gender pronouns is equivalent to an early Christian offering incense to the emperor. I agree and I disagree. I want to distinguish between two ways of compromising on this point. To do this I want to point to 1 Corinthians 10.
In 1st Corinthians 10, Paul deals with the issue of food sacrificed to idols. Paul argues that if you participate in the pagan feasts, you are idolatrous. This is because you are publicly participating in the altar of a false God. I would argue on this level, those Christians who publicly compromise on calling an individual a “zer” or a “ze” are offering their pinch of incense. This is particularly true of the gender-neutral pronouns. Those who offer their sacrifice of appeasement to the world’s understanding of identity are denying God’s gift of identity to that individual.
But Paul also argues that when you visit somebodies house you may eat the food offered without asking. It might be sacrificed to idols, but ultimately God is in control. But if the person tells you, for the sake of the gospel, do not eat any food sacrificed to idols. There is an application to identity here. Treat people as they appear. You are not bowing to the idol of identity. But if somebody asks you to call them a “ze” or a “zer” or if they tell you that they have had a gender-change surgery, do not call them by their preferred pronoun. You do this for the sake of the gospel, so that they may know God’s desire for their identity.
Witness, then through rejecting identity politics. We could go further, we could talk about all the politics around race. Here we can be more sensitive. Race is a natural thing. The sons of Adam have developed distinctive features in different areas of the world. Still, we are all sons of Adam, made in the image of God before we are black and white. Here, again we reject identity politics. Our witness is through embracing our identity in Christ and encouraging others to appropriate that identity as well.