Breakpoint

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health's model of so-called "gender-affirming care" does not "follow the science." Despite the growing evidence about puberty blockers' irreversible effects, the gaps in medical research, and the dangers for children, the lie that puberty blockers are "fully reversible" will continue. To learn more about the harms of gender ideology, and the lie that these treatments are "irreversible," check out our latest Breakpoint Forum, "The Real Facts About Gender Ideology," featuring child and adolescent psychiatrists Dr. Miriam Grossman and Dr. Stephen Grcevich. ________________ Breakpoint listeners, this is John Stonestreet. On behalf of the Colson Center, I am excited to announce a brand-new collaboration designed to address the mass confusion of our day on sexuality, "gender" and identity, the Identity Project. The Identity Project is a library of over 150 videos (and growing monthly) addressing issues of identity, sex, "gender," and humanity from a Judeo-Christian worldview. The Identity Project experts speak with clarity and authority based on years of research and relevant experience. They include psychologists, theologians, sociologists, pastors, doctors, and parents who have real-life experience with these concerns. The Colson Center is excited to offer a limited-time $10 discount code to our audience. Use Promo Code BREAKPOINT to receive $10 off an annual access pass by going to identityproject.tv. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

New study confirms that more Americans identify as religiously unaffiliated than as Roman Catholics. Also, John and Maria discuss the debate over Christians attending same-sex weddings, the push for polyamory. Recommendations The Identity Project "Perhaps Emotional Dependence on Celebrities Has Gone Too Far" by Freddie DeBoer Segment 1: "Nones" Outpace Catholics More 'nones' than Catholics: Non-religious Americans near 30% in latest survey Segment 2: Should Christians Attend Same-sex Weddings? CAN CHRISTIANS ATTEND GAY WEDDINGS? IdentityProject.tv Same-Sex Marriage: A Thoughtful Approach to God's Design for Marriage by Sean McDowell and John Stonestreet _________ In Don't Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship, author Thaddeus Williams exposes and refutes the false narratives enshrined in our secular culture. Exchange the futility of the "cult of self" that promises fulfillment and freedom for a life of courageous faith in Jesus, the true source of life. Request your copy today by visiting colsoncenter.org/january. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Pope Francis' declaration allowing priests to bless same-sex couples puts Roman Catholics who accept the biblical definition of marriage in a tough spot. Though the document doesn't officially change doctrine, it has sown confusion and emboldened heresy. However, earlier this month, a group of African bishops released a joint statement explaining why they will not bless same-sex couples. Led by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungo, these bishops insisted that such unions are "contrary to the will of God," and that the pope's statement created "misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful." It's hard to miss a pattern here: As churches in the Global North abandon truth, churches in the Global South, especially Africa, stand firm. It brings to mind Jesus' words to the church of Philadelphia: "I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." Thank you, African Christians, for being faithful. Please pray for the rest of us. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Sascha Bailey, son of a world-renowned photographer father and a fashion model mother, appeared to "have it all." Rather than saving his life, Bailey now believes that his attempts to adopt a new sex was, in reality, suicide with extra steps: "Transitioning was a way of killing myself without dying, because I was so unhappy with my life." ______________ What are worldviews? And why is teaching worldviews so crucial in this cultural moment? Dive into worldviews, their importance, and how to make sense of the world with this greater understanding by signing up for the FREE Colson Educators course, The Importance of Worldviews. Find more resources on the Colson Educators website at educators.colsoncenter.org. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Over the last year, we've reported on the (literal) trials of Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, who was accused of "hate speech" for sharing Bible verses in support of traditional sexuality. Twice already, she has been found "not guilty" by the courts. But as our friends at ADF reported last week, prosecutors are now trying to get that verdict overturned. According to Paul Coleman of ADF International, the attacks on Räsänen have been relentless. "As is so often the case in 'hate speech' trials," he said, "the process has become part of the punishment." Recently, a progressive Christian author argued that since Räsänen is "only" threatened with a fine and not prison, it's not really a big deal. But censorship is a big deal. The loss of freedoms that are good for everyone is a big deal. Christians and others who care about human flourishing and about loving our neighbors should stand against persecution of any degree. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

In this special edition of Breakpoint, John Stonestreet sits down with Dr. Miriam Grossman to discuss the facts behind transgender ideology. Miriam Grossman MD is board certified in psychiatry and in the sub-specialty of child and adolescent psychiatry. The author of five books, Dr. Grossman's work has been translated into eleven languages. She has testified in Congress and lectured at the British House of Lords and the United Nations. This is a followup conversation from the latest Breakpoint Forum: The Real Facts About Gender Ideology. You can find the full recording for the forum on the Colson Center YouTube channel. - Resources - MiriamGrossmanMD.com Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist's Guide Out of the Madness by Miriam Grossman M.D. The Identity Project Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) RealityBasedPublishing.com He is He and She is She books by Ryan Bomberger Accepting signatures: An Open Letter to the American Psychiatric Association Regarding the Publication of Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

God has placed us in this moment, a moment that is really a historical anomaly. Among other things, this implies we have a responsibility to be the moral people upon which democracy depends. Thus, we must commit again to loving one another, to governing our tempers, ambitions, greed, and tendency toward selfishness, and to never compromising on the truth of what it means to be human or what it means to seek the good. ______________ In Don't Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship, author Thaddeus Williams exposes and refutes the false narratives enshrined in our secular culture. Exchange the futility of the "cult of self" that promises fulfillment and freedom for a life of courageous faith in Jesus, the true source of life. Request your copy today by visiting colsoncenter.org/january. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

In a newly resurfaced clip from 2020, English philosopher A.C. Grayling claimed he could think of nothing truly unique that Christianity had given the world. Historian Tom Holland replied with what my colleague Shane Morris called, "one of his best 'mic drop' moments." In about 90 seconds, Holland rattled off a list that included lifelong marriage, concepts of sexuality that protected women and children, the modern scientific project, the idea that humans bear the image of God, the universality of ethics, and more. As Holland put it, "Essentially what I'm talking about … is … what makes Western civilization distinctive." These ideas ended slavery, expanded care to the poor, established democracy, educated the masses, and insisted that everyone be under the same law. The source of every one of these ideas is centuries of Christian reflection on the truths of the Bible. In short, what has Christianity given the world? Nearly everything that matters the most. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

One feature of American life for some time now is that women, as a group, tend to fall to the left of men politically. For much of the twentieth century, that gap was relatively minor. Until 1980, in fact, the sexes voted within a few percentage points of each other. Since then, things have changed dramatically. Citing polling data from Gallup, Brad Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies recently pointed out that the percentage of young men ages 18 to 29 who identify as Republican has risen by double digits in the last decade. "Some have doubted the idea that young men (18-29) are turning right," he tweeted. "Time for them to wake up." As late as the mid-2000s, a similar portion of 18- to 29-year-olds of both sexes—just under 30%—identified as "liberal." However, according to an American Enterprise Institute survey last year, 46% of white Gen Z women called themselves "liberal." Some conservative scholars like the Acton Institute's Anthony Bradley think this emerging divide extends beyond political commitments to other areas as well, including morality. Last week, he tweeted: "Gen Z is different. Women are more liberal than the men and this includes personal morality as well. More and more guys are willing to wait until marriage & fewer women are. Women now celebrate having a "high body count" [a.k.a., many sexual partners] as a[n] empowerment. Today's young men are more traditional." More evidence is required before we can conclude that American young men have had some kind of moral awakening, especially given the popularity of morally objectionable figures like fitness influencer and depraved pickup artist Andrew Tate. Still, the trends in self-description seem to hold in other polls, even for high schoolers. One factor behind this striking political divide between the sexes, especially the rightward turn among young men, is the Left's obsession with condemning "the patriarchy" and "toxic masculinity." Many young men hear this as a condemnation of their very existence. Similarly, the leftward lurch among women could have something to do with the perception that abortion is a women's issue and the increasingly hysterical warnings that restricting abortion is the equivalent of subjecting women to Handmaid's Tale-style reproductive slavery. Still, pollsters have noted for decades now one thing that reliably predicts conservative views and voting, especially among women: marriage. Pick pretty much any election in any year, and half or even most married women vote differently than their unmarried counterparts. In the 2020 election, for instance, the gap between how married and unmarried women voted was 15 points, compared with a 10-point gap between married and unmarried men. As we know, marriage has been in steep decline for years. In fact, Pew Research reports that the share of 40-year-olds who have never been married is higher today than at any time on record. Fertility, too, is near a record low, making our country more single and more childless than at any other time in its history. It would be foolish to think these numbers would not eventually show up in political behavior, and that one of the most likely proofs would be the widening gap between the voting habits of men and women. Marriage and family are chief among what conservative writers have long called society's "mediating institutions," those layers between individuals and the state that provide security, opportunity, and meaning without the government's intervention. As entering marriages and creating families becomes rarer, it's little wonder so many who historically would have looked for protection and provision in the home are now instead looking to Washington. In other words, the wedges that radical feminism, the sexual revolution, and the breakdown of the family have driven between the sexes are likely the main reason for this growing political divide. Women and men were created for one another, not just to build families but to build societies. Since each sex is indispensable, both, in their own ways, are lost when isolated. As the Apostle Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians, "Woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God." Instead of pointing fingers at one another as Adam and Eve did after the fall, we should take this emerging political divide as clear evidence that without our oldest and most important mediating institution—the family, society unravels. There's no way forward if men and women remain at such loggerheads, not only does dating become a nightmare, but the future is at risk. After all, the government cannot birth new citizens, voters, and taxpayers. Men and women stand or fall together. A nation in which the sexes are at war is a house divided against itself at the most fundamental level. Such a house cannot stand. This Breakpoint was co-authored by Shane Morris. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org _________ "Follow your heart!" How many times have we heard this self-centered "truth" that is really a dressed-up version of the oldest lie in the world? In Don't Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship, author Thaddeus Williams exposes and refutes the false narratives enshrined in our secular culture. Exchange the futility of the "cult of self" that promises fulfillment and freedom for a life of courageous faith in Jesus, the true source of life. Request your copy today by visiting colsoncenter.org/january.

A recent article in Christianity Today states, "Overall, 365 million Christians live in nations with high levels of persecution or discrimination." That's more people than live in the United States. The most troubling spots tend to be either authoritarian states like Cuba and North Korea, or Muslim-dominated areas like Saudi Arabia. Nigeria accounts for over 75% of world martyrs, with over 4,100 killed between October 2022 and September 2023. In contrast to a popular Western claim, the growing hostility to faith is not because these precious brothers and sisters are too prudish, too powerful, or too white. It's because they have embraced the name of the One who suffered on their behalf. Francis Schaeffer once wrote, "No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions." In any place where religion, ideology, or state demands absolute loyalty, Christians will be seen as a problem. Please pray for those suffering, and pray that we would be given a portion of their courage. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org