James Damore, former Google software engineer, lost his job after he wrote a memo challenging Google’s ideology about male-female differences and how to achieve diversity in the work place.

Damore’s firing is a warning to all who do not believe today’s ruling ideology that says men and women are identical. This belief system teaches that all male and female differences are socially constructed and that there are no real distinctions between men and women.

While there’s no indication that Damore is a Christian, he does agree with the basic Christian view that men and women are different. As modern ideas about the two sexes have developed, there is a growing intolerance toward dissenting viewpoints. And, Google is not alone in attempting to silence dissenting voices.

Growing Intolerance

You’re probably familiar with the florists, bakers and photograph takers who have been taken to court for acting according to their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. Similarly, Chick-fil-A was targeted because its CEO believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Likewise, Brendan Eich, the co-founder of Mozilla, was forced to step down because he donated to Proposition 8, the California ballot measure to retain marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Each of these examples relates to deeply-held beliefs about marriage, which is rooted in the Christian understanding that men and women are different — a viewpoint common in every culture until our post-modern world today. Such views are increasingly under fire.

The above examples have received a lot of press — especially in conservative or Christian media — but there are many more. Intolerance toward Christian beliefs about male-female sexuality is on the upswing, from education to the mainstream media, and from government to the business world. Here are just a few recent examples, all from technology businesses:

  • Pure Passion Ministries, led by David Kyle Foster, had hundreds of Christian videos on Vimeo® showing people who had left homosexuality or transgenderism, based on their fundamental belief in God’s design for human sexuality, relationships and marriage. Vimeo shut down Pure Passion’s videos because they demonstrated a Christian perspective toward sexuality and relationships. Foster was forced to move all his videos to YouTube.
  • Dr. Michael Brown, Ph.D., a theologian, speaker and author is passionate about reaching people for Christ. He speaks the truth in love about cultural issues, including sexuality, marriage and male-female distinctions. His videos were part of YouTube’s “AdSense” program, which “monetizes” videos, sharing advertising revenue with video channel owners. YouTube® “announced a new system to catch and flag what it calls ‘controversial religious and supremacist’ videos.” Brown had hundreds of his videos marked “not suitable for advertisers” and removed from the program, or “demonetized.”
  • Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal defense group, and D. James Kennedy Ministries, a Christian ministry known for its broadcast, Truths that Transform,  were removed from AmazonSmile, a program from Amazon® where consumers designate a portion of sales to a nonprofit group of their choice. Both groups were banned because they are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups,” based on their Christian view of sexual issues.

Many more examples of intolerance toward dissent from the mainstream narrative abound. First Liberty, an organization led by attorney Kelly Shackelford, is dedicated to protecting religious freedom in America. Each year, the organization releases a document of offenses against religious freedom inside the military, in schools, throughout the public square, and for churches and other religious groups. Their 2017 report, Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America, documents 1,400 attacks on religious freedom. Yes, in America. Many of the cases revolve around beliefs about male-female differences and the issues that stem from those differences.

How Should Christians Respond?

Given increasingly hostility to Christian beliefs — even something as obvious in nature as the reality of male-female differences — we can expect pushback for speaking the truth. Christians should respond with grace, truth, courage and wisdom.

If your freedom of speech or religion is threatened, a resource such as “Religious Freedom: Protecting How We Practice Our Faith” will help you with next steps to take.

Resources:

NOTE: Referral to websites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites’ content.