Announcements, February 14
Hi everyone,
I've included a note at the end of this email about the Equality Act. I hope it will help you to pray for our society, for our civil authorities, and for the Church.
I plan to include notes like this more regularly, in order to share thoughts, ideas, and resources as they come up week by week.
The Lord’s Day
The morning service is at 10am. Here is the morning order of service.
The evening service is at 4pm. Here is the evening order of service.
Through the Week
- Bible Study — Tuesday at 10:30am, on Zoom. We will be studying Mark 14:53-15:15.
- Prayer Meeting — Wednesday at 7:15pm, on Zoom.
- Foundations Class — Thursday at 7pm, on Zoom.
Ministry Note: The Equality Act
A few weeks ago, I sent this brief letter to Representative Ro Khanna, the congressman for our district.
January 19, 2021
Dear Representative Khanna,
Congratulations on your recent re-election to the US House of Representatives. I am deeply concerned by one bill that seems likely to pass in the new Congress. I refer to the so-called “Equality Act,” which recently passed the House of Representatives as House Resolution 5 of the 116th Congress, and which President-elect Biden declared to be his top legislative priority. You were one of the bill’s 240 co-sponsors. I am writing to ask you to withdraw your support, for the sake of the enduring civil liberties of those you represent.
The Equality Act will inflict serious harms and injustices by making it unlawful to act on the sincere and reasonable belief that humans are either male or female, and that these are both tied to biological sex.
First, it will harm women by deconstructing their private spaces. If biological males are to be allowed into women’s locker rooms and restrooms, so long as they adopt a female gender identity, then such private spaces might as well not exist. Women would no longer benefit from the privacy and safety afforded by such spaces where men are not permitted. Individuals who choose not to enter a male restroom because of their gender identity could be accommodated in a number of other ways that would not remove this protection from women.
Second, it will harm women by compromising their athletic competitions. Biological males are at a distinct advantage in most such competitions. In contact sports or sparring, a biological female may be endangered by a biological male’s superior weight, height, and muscle mass. The prospect of continually losing or being hurt by biological males will likely discourage women from athletics, reversing achievements of past civil rights laws.
Third, it will harm everyone by forcing medical professionals, therapists, and counsellors to affirm conclusions that are not warranted by scientific evidence. Unlike biological sex, sexual orientation and gender identity are not empirically observable or objective characteristics. They can be known only through an individual’s own pronouncements and behaviors. There has been quite a bit of research into whether these pronouncements and behaviors may be rooted in biological causes. Whatever the outcome of those investigations, it will remain the case that biological sex is eminently observable and objective, while orientation and gender identity are not. Requiring everyone to act as if they believed that sexual orientation and gender identity are objectively real will undermine everyone’s access to evidence-based medical treatment and professional advice.
Fourth, it will harm all Americans by eroding key civil liberties enshrined in the first amendment. The Act will require everyone to behave as if it is consistent with their deepest beliefs to affirm all sexual orientations and gender identities. Traditional orthodox Christianity, like many religious traditions, teaches that all humans are either male or female, and that sexual behaviors and identities are rooted in biological sex. If the Equality Act passes, anyone who holds such a belief will be prevented from freely exercising their religion in the public sphere. Furthermore, the Act will compel creative professionals to speak not according to their own beliefs but according to government requirements. Rather than achieving equality, the act will enforce conformity, and in a manner that is contrary to the first principles of a free society. My concerns on this fourth point are intensified by the fact that the Equality Act expressly prevents any recourse to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Fifth, it will harm this country by forcing most orthodox Christian (and other traditional religious) colleges, universities, and seminaries to choose between affirming all sexual orientations and gender identities and losing federal research funding and student loan financing, as well as possibly losing accreditation. This will likely lead many of these institutions into insolvency. Those that survive will do so at the high cost of forfeiting their core convictions, which animate their distinctive and highly valuable contributions to American higher education and society more generally.
I urge you to reconsider your sponsorship of this bill, in light of the fact that it is in conflict with the best interests of all the people that you serve, the fundamental beliefs of some of the people that you serve, and with the first principles of the Constitution under whose aegis you serve this country.
Sincerely,
Calvin Goligher
Pastor, First OPC Sunnyvale