{"id":32909,"date":"2022-09-10T16:27:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/changing-genders-isnt-morally-wrong-americans-say\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:27:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:27:58","slug":"changing-genders-isnt-morally-wrong-americans-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/changing-genders-isnt-morally-wrong-americans-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Genders Isn\u2019t Morally Wrong, Americans Say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Lisa Cannon Green<\/em><\/p>\n

Most Americans see nothing morally wrong with gender change, Lifeway Research finds.<\/p>\n

Six in 10 Americans don\u2019t think it\u2019s wrong for people to identify with a gender different from their birth sex, according to the Nashville-based research organization.<\/p>\n

And more than half don\u2019t think it\u2019s wrong to switch genders by taking hormones or having surgery.<\/p>\n

The findings indicate most Americans don\u2019t see moral significance in being born male or female, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n

\u201cA majority of Americans reject the view of a creator giving them a gender that shouldn\u2019t be changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe freely change many things about ourselves\u2014we have cosmetic surgery, we use teeth whitener, we dye our hair, we get tattoos. Many Americans view gender as one more thing on that list.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Not a moral issue\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Questions of morality have surfaced as politicians debate restroom access, employment protection, insurance coverage and military service for transgender people.<\/p>\n

Is it morally permissible for a doctor to remove healthy organs? Is it acceptable to give puberty-delaying drugs to children who feel gender conflict? Is it ethical for society to require people to live as one gender if they identify strongly with the other?<\/p>\n

However, many Americans say gender simply isn\u2019t a moral issue.<\/p>\n

Lifeway Research asked 1,000 Americans whether they agree or disagree that changing one\u2019s gender or identifying with a different gender is morally wrong. Respondents also had the option to select \u201cit\u2019s not a moral issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a third of Americans (35 percent) say it\u2019s wrong for people to identify with a gender different from their birth sex, while 45 percent disagree. As for changing gender, 42 percent say it\u2019s morally wrong and 43 percent disagree.<\/p>\n

But 14 percent of Americans say identifying with a different gender isn\u2019t a matter of morality, and almost as many (11 percent) say it isn\u2019t a moral issue to alter one\u2019s gender through hormones or surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reflects a changing worldview,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cA growing percentage of Americans don\u2019t believe in right and wrong. They don\u2019t believe there\u2019s absolute truth\u2014and if there\u2019s no absolute truth, then they\u2019re reluctant to talk about morality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evangelical concerns<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Evangelical believers are dramatically more likely than other Americans to voice moral concerns about gender change, the survey shows.<\/p>\n

More than half of people with evangelical beliefs (54 percent) say it\u2019s wrong to identify with a different gender. Only about a quarter of Catholics (26 percent), a third of those in non-Christian faiths such as Judaism or Islam (35 percent), and a fifth of the nonreligious (20 percent) share that view.<\/p>\n

Excluding evangelical believers, three-quarters of Americans cite no moral qualms about changing gender identification.<\/p>\n

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Americans are slightly more concerned about altering gender through surgery or hormones, but it remains mostly an evangelical issue.<\/p>\n

Evangelical believers are almost twice as likely (61 percent) as non-evangelical Americans (32 percent) to say using surgery or hormones to change birth gender is morally wrong. Compared to evangelicals, significantly fewer Catholics (29 percent), those of non-Christian faiths (41 percent), or the nonreligious (21 percent) believe it\u2019s wrong to alter gender by medical means.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvangelical Christians are clearly in the minority on this issue,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n

Personal acquaintance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Those who personally know a transgendered person are much less likely to consider gender change morally wrong, the Lifeway Research survey shows.<\/p>\n

Among the 71 percent of Americans who say they have no transgender acquaintances, almost half (48 percent) say it is wrong to change genders using surgery or hormones, and nearly 4 in 10 (39 percent) say it is wrong to identify with another gender.<\/p>\n

Those numbers drop by more than a third among the 27 percent of Americans who say they know a transgendered person. Twenty-eight percent of this group says changing gender by medical means is wrong, and 25 percent says identifying with a different gender is wrong.<\/p>\n

Acquaintances of transgendered people are also significantly more likely to believe changing gender through surgery or hormones isn\u2019t a matter of morality. About one in six (16 percent) says such medical intervention is not a moral issue, compared to 9 percent of those who don\u2019t know a transgendered person.<\/p>\n

Young adults, 18-24 years old, are most likely to report knowing a transgender person and less likely than others to consider gender change immoral. In that age group, 41 percent have a transgender acquaintance, and 31 percent say it\u2019s wrong to alter gender through surgery or hormones.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals, in contrast, are less likely than others to know a transgender person (20 percent) and more likely to have moral objections.<\/p>\n

More women than men say they know someone who is transgender (32 percent vs. 21 percent), but their beliefs about the morality of gender change are similar.<\/p>\n

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Lisa Green<\/h2>\n

@lisacgreen<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Lisa is a former senior editor at Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n