I realize Caitlyn Jenner has been discussed ad nauseam by this point, but I would like to weigh in from a slightly different angle.
In order for the feeling of gender misidentity on Jenner’s part (or any transgender’s part) to be valid, a person must be more than their mere biological body alone. Otherwise, there’d be no “real them” to be trapped inside the outer shell of their physical appearance in the first place. In other words, if, as many atheistic naturalists claim, a person is simply a collection of cells devoid of a mind or a soul, then the transgender’s frustration is delusional on its face, since there simply is no “inner you” to feel trapped within the “outer you” (because the latter is all there is). But if those with a more religious and/or supernaturalist worldview are correct about humans being both a body and a soul, then there’s a basis for understanding the transgender’s frustration—such people actually have a lexicon and vocabulary to deal with such claims, and a framework for beginning to try to understand them.
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2 things:
1. Well, science https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan/
2. If transgender-ism is a delusion, than almost everything is delusion by that same rubric. I think everything could be a delusion – hunger is a delusion caused by chemical defecit; separation of molecular membranes is a love delusion; spikes in certain hormones is a love delusion, happiness delusion. That’s actually where my money is: everything is a meaning-feeling delusion.
I don’t understand all this kvetching about transgendered people… it’s just like gay marriage, how does what another person who feel that their gender is not what it says on the driver’s license or birth certificate any of our business?
How about we just respect what the other person wants to be called? I mean, you don’t go around purposely calling Peter Mary or Bob Barbara do you?
And having clicked through to read the full post at Heavy for the vintage, I’ not sure why we need a “framework” in order to discuss this. Atheism doesn’t preclude respecting another human being’s wishes.
Yes, but just try telling a gay person that you respect their choice even though you think it is immoral, and watch what happens. People don’t want to simply be tolerated, they want to be respected and understood. I would rather have a worldview or framework that helps me understand someone than have one that doesn’t, despite the fact that I will honor their wishes either way.
Perhaps as a supplemental to this post you might tease out why religion teaches us to be tolerant while atheism does not?
This reminds me of the eternal debate about the first amendment, while you’re free to open your mouth and be proven an asshole, it doesn’t mean you have to do it. And I’m not saying that people who think homosexuals are immoral are assholes but just because you CAN say something it doesn’t mean you SHOULD. You know?
And while I agree with what you say completely, the reality is that the most intolerant people I encounter tend to be religious people rather than non-religious people. Caveats about anecdotal evidence of course!
I agree, hence the irony.