Christian group questions why we should use ‘transgender pronouns’ like ‘he’ and ‘she’
Christian fundamentalist Ken Ham, in front of his “life-size” ark. (Luke Sharrett /For The Washington Post via Getty)
A Christian fundamentalist group is questioning the use of “transgender pronouns”, going as far to say some people aren’t using pronouns for anyone at all.
In a blog post, Answers in Genesis chief executive Ken Ham declared that the use of preferred pronouns was “a question every Christian must grapple with”.
He claimed that using “transgendered pronouns” meant “participating in the lie that sex/gender is on a spectrum, or that a man can be a woman and a woman a man… because God has created us either male or female”.
Ham went on to talk about the job of a Christian being to obey God and to “speak truth into a culture of lies and point people toward Jesus Christ”.
He said his view was not offensive, because, quoting anti-LBGTQ+ US media commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, “you can’t out-love God by lying”.
Stuckey, who is openly anti-trans, recently tweeted: “If you are a Christian using trans pronouns, you are aiding the enemy in advancing a moment that’s destroying bodies, souls, families and nations.”
Her tweet also linked to a video by “ex-gay” preacher Rosaria Butterfield, whom Ham also referred to in his blog post.
In an opinion column of her own, Butterfield said using “transgendered pronouns” was a sin requiring “public repentance”.
Ham also alleged that making a conscious choice not to respect another’s preferred pronouns could determine “whether or not you keep your job… perhaps especially, teachers”.
However, the way around it, he explained, was just to not use pronouns at all for anyone.
“I know many Christians in such a position explain that they cannot use transgendered pronouns and decline to use any pronouns, always referring to the person by their given name instead of with the shorthand of a pronoun.”
Who is Ken Ham?
Ken Ham is a 71-year-old Australian Christian fundamentalist, who has been living in the United States since the late 1980s after about a decade of advocating for the teaching of young creationism in Queensland public schools.
Originally a science teacher, he quit after disagreeing with evolution theory – young creationism proclaims that God only created the Earth between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.
In the US, he founded the Creation Museum, which advertises itself as showing “why God’s infallible word, rather than man’s faulty assumptions, is the place to begin if we want to make sense of our world” with a recreation of “biblical history”.
He also founded the Ark Encounter, a 510ft-long Noah’s Ark tourist attraction in Kentucky.
