Why are the nations in an uproar?

Offer the appointed sacrifices * and put your trust in the Lord. (Ps 4)

“Today also my complaint is bitter;his hand is heavy despite my groaning.Oh, that I knew where I might find him,that I might come even to his dwelling!I would lay my case before him,and fill my mouth with arguments. (Job 23)

Like many Americans, I find myself trying to understand what is happening in the political and cultural life of the nation. As is always the case, in anxious times, people are inclined to grab hold of narratives, ideologies, and conspiracies that explain what they are experiencing.

My belief is that responsible Christian engagement calls for a response that includes:

• Maintaining ourselves in the prayer book pattern of Eucharist, daily office, and reflection. It keeps us connected to the Divine Life we share in Christ. It grounds us in a larger and more eternal truth.

• Clarity about such matters as the Christian virtues and gifts, our responsibility to inform and obey conscience, and the call to treat all with respect, most especially our opponents and our enemies.

• A willingness to struggle with what we see, with the information that is available, and with our own emotional reactivity.

In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Benedictus Dominus Deus

In relation to that last point I'm going to make use of an article from The Dispatch, HHS Releases Landmark Review on Youth Gender Medicine.

I am not looking at the contents of the report itself. My focus at the moment is on the process of the Trump administration in putting together the report and in how it has approached the politics of the matter. Might that help me better understand what is happening more broadly? Not understand everything. Not be certain about what I come up with. Maybe just a glimpse of how things are happening at least some of the time. To use an organization development term, to create a hypothesis.

Jesse Singal wrote the article for The Dispatch. She is commenting on a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” (400 pages). Her read is that the report itself is useful and professionally done. She acknowledged that she was shocked that it was as well done as it was. She also noted that she expected it to under some of the same kind of attack as Britain's Cass Review.

The part of her article that is most connected to my concern is when she explores how the Trump administration presents the report. “Making matters worse, the White House released a similarly incendiary statement on Monday, previewing some of the document’s findings. “Under President Biden, the Federal government promoted a grotesque social and scientific experiment on American children,” it began. “During the first three years of his administration alone, more than 7,000 children were administered puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. Over 4,000 were subjected to sex-trait modification surgical interventions, such as mastectomies. These interventions were marketed to children on the basis of ideologically driven and financially motivated junk-science.” The authors of the report, I was told, were not informed that their work would be framed this way.” She also reports on the President’s earlier Executive Order calling for such a report.

He tells us of his executive order that and offers his own conclusions on the matter before any report is even done. In fact, he orders actions to be taken by government agencies to “ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” and more along the same line. Singal sees that “as a bit strange: Why not conduct the review and then, if warranted, deliver the editorializing verdict about ‘stains on our Nation’s history’?”

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1)

So with all the fear and conspiracy theorizing going on — with some people believing that we faced the collapse of democracy in the United States and the possible destruction of the western liberal democracy tradition — what are we to make of the places where there appears to be professional and competent action taken by this administration and at the same time, a pattern of extreme and aggressive language coming from the White House? Please hear me, I'm not suggesting that this pattern is true in everything this administration is doing. And of course, even if the behavior is professional and competent, I might still disagree with it. But all that said, in the service of truth and humility, might it be useful to take note of areas in which our government is functioning in a manner that is appropriate? If we don't do that, we are simply trapped in tribal narrative and conspiracy?

This abides,

Brother Robert, OA

The Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles