In attempt to understand gender ideology, in recent months I have been reading various materials related to the topic. I find it a topic difficult to understand. For me, part of the problem is that acceptance of gender ideology is dependent on relativism. Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that neither I nor the Catholic Church accepts relativism.

Regular readers of this blog also know that in the past I have written about the importance of following the news to know what is going on in the world. The problem is that we can get angry at the views expressed by others in the news. They have different opinions. I have found lately that my reaction to some of the news has changed from anger to disappointment. Why? I think it is rooted in the relativism that I see in the general beliefs of others. Relativism makes dialogue difficult.

I think relativism is also a significant part of what drives the increasing division in politics. Last week I received a poll from my congressman asking, “Do you support the leftist ban on gas stoves?” I include this here not to discuss whether or not gas stoves should be banned. Rather, it is the inclusion of the word “leftist” that bothers me. We are a divided people. Blaming the leftists, or any group that one does not agree with us in this way, adds nothing to the conversation. It only adds to the division.

What does relativism have to do with any of this?

Relativism says that all truth is relative. There is no universal truth. One is free to develop one’s own truth. I see this as a significant part of the polarization we experience because everyone thinks they are right because relativism says they get to decide the truth for themselves. They find sources on the internet that agree with them to proof they are right and ignore the sources that disagree. Then, they think everyone should agree with them.

I think gender ideology is dependent on relativism because for one to decide their “gender” is not the same as the biological sex they are born with is dependent on their own subjective thought. It ignores the objective truth of the physical body (our bodies say something about who we are). They are another gender because they say so. There is the relativism in it.

While relativism says there is no truth, our Catholic faith is rooted in truth.

Here is how I see relativism. If they are right about relativism, that there is no universal truth, then they can’t be right. Why? Because relativism says there is no truth. However, if relativism is right in saying there is no one truth, then there is a truth. Hence, relativism is wrong. Someone may want to respond by describing it as the “exception that proves the rule.” Sometimes it seems like every rule out there has an exception, hence the saying “the exception that proves the rule.” Here, it is not just an exception to the rule. The “exception” directly contradicts the rule.

I think some people embrace relativism because they see no way to resolve the various ideologies that exist today. They can’t all be right, can they? Relativism embraces that. Relativism seems to fit the “reality” of some many different views. I think others embrace relativism in their search for freedom. They think that everyone should have the freedom to choose to live their own faith.

Our Catholic faith teaches that God gives us free will. Yes, we have freedom to choose. However, it does not teach that people should choose to do whatever they want. In a homily delivered in Camden Park in 1995, St. Pope John Paul II said, “Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought” (7).

What determines what we ought to do? Truth.

Where do we find this truth? God. Jesus himself said, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32). Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus does not say He offers one version of truth. He says, “I am…the truth. The truth does not bind us down. It points to who we are created to be.

In the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us, we do not pray that our own will be done. We pray that “thy will be done.” It is God’s will that we seek.

As we profess in the Nicene Creed, we pray ” I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.” As “one”, we seek unity in God’s truth. As “catholic,” meaning “universal,” we seek the common truth from God that comes to us through the apostles but is God’s own truth.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s wrote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) that “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” I disagree. We cannot determine our own “meaning.” Meaning is something that transcends any one person. We each have to find our place in God’s plan but meaning…that is something greater than any single one of us. We are not capable of understanding everything to define our own meaning. In the Book of Job we hear how Job struggled with the bad things that happened to him. He sought to understand it all. However, in the end he realized that he is not capable of understanding it all. Instead, he trusts in God who does know all.

In 2019, I did a presentation, Where Do We Go Truth? In that presentation, I talked about the various worldly places we seek truth. However, in the end there is one place to find the real truth,…in God.

When Peter and the others were arrested and told to stop talking about Jesus, Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Why should we trust God rather than man? Because Jesus died for us on the Cross. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). We can trust Jesus.

This is not the first time I have written about relativism (I hope I don’t sound like a “broken record”) and I am sure it won’t be the last time. As I try to learn about gender ideology and to understand the polarization we see in the world, my heart was moved this week to specifically write about the impact of relativism. I hope this article helps you better understand the impacts and, even more importantly, I hope this is what the Holy Spirit wanted me to write this week. As to repeating what I have said before, so be it.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff