As follow up to my post two days ago, I write about something which some might argue is even more discomfiting or controversial:  gender.  Why?  Isn't gender intrinsic to being a human being?  Isn't gender part and parcel of who we are?

    The reality is of course far more complex.  Nonetheless, I struggle to see how gender has become a dividing line of belief, religiously and politically, and how one's view of gender has become a litmus test for one's allegiance to "acceptable" values or "reasonable" ways of viewing certain religious documents.

    Do not we have more important things on which to focus?

    Sure, as a Christian, I believe in the truth and worth of the biblical revelation.  Indeed, I'm willing to stake my life on it.  But I'm loathe to make my understanding of it an absolute for everyone, and I wrestle, frequently, with using it to tell people they are not who they believe themselves to be.

    Yes, I recognize, once more, that the reality is far more complex.  Yet this is all the more reason to tread carefully and not turn issues of gender into political or spiritual footballs.

    Gender is much more profound than that.