Is Being Transgender a Sin?!
😇 “God created man and woman” is a favourite quotation of those who try to legitimise discrimination through religious authority. But this argument falls apart if we open the original sources and remember how ancient texts work.
Here we explore:
- 📖 Why does a fundamentalist reading ignore the principles of how texts are constructed?
- 🐱 How did Jewish tradition record variations in sex for centuries before modern genetics?
- 👍 Which major Christian churches openly ordain trans people today?
Contents
How religious arguments justify discrimination
Anti-gender rhetoric most often appeals to religious arguments. When conservative religious and political circles invoke a “divine plan” to criticise transgender people in general and non-binary people in particular, this functions as a persistent shield intended to legitimise discriminatory social practices through the authority of the “sacred”.
The main argument in fundamentalist discourse remains Genesis 1:27: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Fundamentalist exegesis reads this text as an absolute statement that supposedly rules out any intermediate states or any difference between anatomy and self-awareness. Such literalism ignores basic principles of how texts are constructed.
What is merism?
Contemporary biblical scholars and Christian theologians point out that the first chapter of Genesis is structured entirely around the rhetorical figure of merism.
Merism is a classical Semitic literary device in which the whole of something is expressed by naming two opposite or polar points. Far from ruling out a continuum between them, it directly implies one. When the author writes that God created “heaven and earth”, this means the creation of the whole world, rather than heaven and earth alone.
Similarly, the division into “day and night” or “light and darkness” does not exclude dawn, twilight or the aurora, while distinguishing “land and sea” does not turn the planet into a geometrical chessboard.
The creation of “male and female”, then, does not mean the creation of only “male” and “female”. On the contrary, it encompasses the full diversity of sex characteristics and gender identities, including trans people, intersex variations and the non-binary umbrella.
Variation in Jewish tradition
Conservative theologians’ attempts to present a binary model as the only possible legacy of the Abrahamic religions are contradicted by primary sources of Jewish law. Classical literature from the first centuries of the Common Era pays considerable attention to people with variations in anatomy.
To regulate the observance of commandments, ritual purity, marriage and inheritance, rabbis recorded an extensive system of sex categories. Rabbinic sages recognised that the body’s phenotypic characteristics extend beyond a strict binary long before the development of modern endocrinological and genetic concepts.
The myth of a “united Christian front”
Conservative propaganda actively promotes the idea that all Christians supposedly condemn trans people. In reality, this is not the case!
The Episcopal Church in the United States has systematically embedded protection for trans people in its canon law. In 2012, it adopted resolutions prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression in the selection and ordination of clergy.
In 2018, its Convention adopted guidelines for the full inclusion of trans people in dioceses, schools and camps. A resolution of the 80th Convention in 2022 separately affirmed the theological dignity of non-binary believers.
Since 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has provided equal rights to ministry for LGBTQ+ people. In 2021, it ordained Megan Rohrer as bishop of the East Bay Synod, establishing a precedent for an openly trans bishop in historic Protestantism.
At its 34th General Synod, the United Church of Christ adopted a statement condemning legislative restrictions on gender-affirming care and affirming the spiritual virtue and calling of trans Christians.
The Church of Sweden, Europe’s largest Lutheran church, published the manifesto “A Personal Letter to You Who Are Trans” in 2021. This open letter, signed by 943 priests, deacons and church leaders, officially expressed solidarity with the trans community.
The excerpt shown on the slide reads:
“We write to you from a church that is also trans. A church consists of people. People are different. Among us are confirmands, employees, churchwardens, elected representatives, volunteers and other parishioners who identify as trans people. The church therefore also consists of trans people. That is why the church could be described as trans.”
Openly transgender priests and canons serve in the Church of England. Church leadership encourages clergy to adapt the rite of Affirmation of Baptismal Faith: a priest publicly lays hands on a transgender person, addresses them by their new chosen name and presents a commemorative Bible or certificate.
The Evangelical Church in Germany runs systematic programmes for gender justice, rejects discriminatory models and recognises gender diversity as part of the fullness of God’s gift of life. Women and LGBTQ people have full rights to ordination in its regional churches.
Sources
With support from
Published with support from TGEU — Trans Europe and Central Asia.