World-Famous Physicist Drops Bombshell “God” Discovery… Atheists Will NOT Like This
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Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku recently claimed that he found proof that God exists, and his reasoning has caused a stir in the scientific community.
When responding to a question about the meaning of life and God, Kaku said that most physicists do believe in a God because of how the universe is designed. Ours is a universe of order, beauty, elegance and simplicity.
He explained the universe didn’t have to be this way — it could have been ugly and chaotic. In short, the order we see in the universe is proof of God.
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“I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence,” the physicist said, according to Science World Report. “Believe me, everything that we call chance today won’t make sense anymore. To me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.”
Kaku, one of the creators and developers of the revolutionary String Theory, came to his conclusions with what he calls primitive semi-radius tachyons, which are theoretical particles that have the ability to “unstick” matter or the vacuum space between particles, leaving everything in the universe free from any influence from the surrounding universe.
The physicist explained that God is like a mathematician, which is similar to what Albert Einstein believed.
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This idea isn’t new for Kaku. In an article for Big Think, he wrote that his String Theory was based on the idea that we are “reading the mind of God.”
Watch Kaku in a video explaining his theory below:
World-Famous Physicist Drops Bombshell “God” Discovery… Atheists Will NOT Like This
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These ideas will no doubt make atheist heads explode, because the more intelligent people come to accept that there is a God, the more atheists will look foolish.
One mom's photo of her breast milk is getting the Internet pumped up. Arkansas mom Mallory Smothers noticed that her bag from Friday morning versus the one from Thursday night were drastically different—and that's because of a really magical fact about breast milk.
In a Facebook post, that now has more than 77,000 shares, Smothers said in February 2016 that she nursed her baby every two hours or so overnight, and she didn't pump until she was up for the day. One Friday morning, around 3 a.m., she noticed her daughter was "congested, irritable and sneezing a lot" and attributed it to a cold.
In a viral article we ran last year, mom.me contributor Leslie Goldman writes, "A mother's lactating breasts are actually bouncy undercover doctor/pharmacists, diagnosing infections and dashing off silent prescriptions. That is just cuckoo-awesome."
That's because when a baby nurses, a vacuum is created in which the infant's saliva sneaks into the mom's nipple. If mammary gland receptors detect pathogens from the baby's spit via backwash, Mom's body will change the milk's immunological composition and produce customized antibodies.
That's why Smothers' latest batch of milk "resembles colostrum," or what many know as liquid gold—the form of milk moms make during late pregnancy and in the first few days of birth; it's filled with leukocytes and antibodies to protect newborns against disease.
"This comes after nursing the baby with a cold all night long. Pretty awesome, huh?! The human body never ceases to amaze me," Smothers wrote.
10 mistakes people make during cold and flu season
It's time to win the war against germs this fall and winter season.
The flu is nothing to sneeze at and can be especially dangerous for the elderly and pregnant women. In some cases, complications from the flu can lead to hospitalization.
Here are 10 surprising ways to protect yourself this cold and flu season.
1. Rethink that nightcap
An after-dinner drink may be a relaxing tonic, but researchers say alcohol can disturb sleep, especially REM sleep. REM sleep is the crucial stage where your body rests and restores itself. Sufficient sleep is considered a "vital sign of good health," according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But here's another way to use alcohol: Flight attendants suggest using vodka as a disinfectant and replacement for hand sanitizer because of its high alcohol count.
2. Pump up on protein
As people get older, their diets often have smaller amounts of protein. One reason is because foods high in protein often take the longest to prepare, and they're left off the menu when senior adults only need to cook for one or two people. However, protein helps build antibodies that make up a big part of your immune system. Be sure to get enough protein by using ingredients such as eggs, fish and yogurt.
3. Get some fresh air
It’s commonly thought that staying inside is better for your immune system than subjecting yourself to colder temperatures. However, being indoors puts you in close contact with other people, and their germs. Not only does taking a stroll outside help you break free from circulating germs, the exercise can lead to an increase in natural killer cells, like neutrophils, which help boost your immunity. Just be sure to bundle up before heading out.
3. Add more zinc
Zinc is essential for building white blood cells. You can get zinc from your diet through foods such as spinach, lean beef, nuts and mushrooms. If you struggle to get the recommended amount of zinc from your diet, consider adding a zinc supplement to your daily vitamin regimen. As always, ask your doctor before adding any new supplements.
4. Stay social
Stress can beat down an immune system. Relaxing and managing stress are important when trying to keep the flu or a cold at bay. To lower your stress level, make socializing a part of your schedule. Spend time with friends to take your mind off stress and find balance in your life.
5. Wipe away sweat
Another stress-relief move is hitting the gym or a sauna, and sweating is a natural process that your body uses to cool off and rid it of toxins. To avoid germs, gym owners and trainers recommend draping a towel over the mat or bench before starting your exercise. Use disinfectant wipes on weights and equipment that you touch with your hands.
6.Sanitize office spaces
Just like gyms, offices are breeding grounds for germs. Co-workers and clients touch the same things you use on a daily basis, such as elevator buttons, phones, copiers and doorknobs. Doctors say the rhinovirus, a common viral infection that causes a cold, can survive on these types of hard surfaces for two days. Disinfect your office at least once a week with cleaning products.
8. Throw glovesin the wash
Make sure to wash your cold weather gear, especially gloves. Doctors stress washing your hands, but when it's cold, your gloves touch all the surfaces your hands would normally touch. Washing your gloves is another layer of protection for your hands.
9.Get down and dirty
While washing your hands and cleaning surfaces are vital ways to stay healthy during cold and flu season, go ahead, get a bit dirty first. Dirt boosts immune systems by exposing the body to germs and allowing the body to build an immunity. Before cold and flu season sets in, do a bit of gardening or challenge yourself by competing in a muddy obstacle course with friends, for even more socialization.
10. Rethink babysitting
Colds can be longer and nastier for children than adults, increasing the amount of time that you may be susceptible to illness. Also, researchers have discovered that those with lung diseases, such as COPD or emphysema, are twice as likely to catch an infection that will develop into a full-fledged cold after being near sick children. If staying away from sick kiddos, especially those adorable grandchildren, is impossible, be sure to wash or sanitize your hands often and teach little ones to cough or sneeze into their elbow.
Of course, the flu shot is the most effective way to prevent this exhausting illness. Since the virus adapts every season, only an updated shot can keep you from contracting the flu each season. Visit Kroger's website to learn more about how the supermarket chain’s flu shots can help you and others in your community.
The Top 10 Characteristics of the Average Unchurched Family
Many years ago when our church began revitalization, we prayed and asked God whom he was calling us to reach.
The answer we felt God impressing upon us then was to focus on unchurched families.
So we created strategies and programs designed to reach out to these families.
God showed up and we began making inroads to reach these families, but then something unexpected happened.
They changed.
In fact, while we were busy perfecting the plans and programs we had used to reach the average unchurched family, the entire culture shifted.
Here we are 16 years later and we have found that we needed to reevaluate everything in light of these radical cultural shifts.
As we stepped back and took a fresh look at the average unchurched family that God is bringing to us, we have noted some characteristics that have become the foundation for reinventing our structures, strategies, and programs.
So, what does the “average” unchurched family look like today?
1. They are a blended home.
43 percent of all marriages are remarriages and 65 percent of those involve children from a prior marriage. Blended families are becoming the norm.
Not to mention that nearly 41 percent of children are born of unmarried parents. Many of our families have been together for years but have never been legally married.
More than half of the children in our programming come from these family realities.
This means that little Billy probably comes so sporadically because that’s how often he’s with the family that attends our church.
POINT: Don’t scold Billy when he shows up or say things like “we sure wish you’d have been here last week when we had our big fun time.” Children’s programs need to maximize every weekend recognizing that we may only get Billy about 20 times in a year. Programming must realistically deal with the new family norms.
2. They are spiritually mismatched.
Families typically begin attending our church due to just one of the adult guardians. Most often this is “mom” (I put mom in quotes because she may or may not be the biological mother of the children she’s bringing) who makes the connection first. She starts coming, bringing the kids along, while “dad” is busy “enjoying his only day off” back at home.
POINT: Don’t make mom feel awkward for not being there as a couple. Equip her to be the spiritual leader in the home without alienating dad. Celebrate that she has worked hard to get her family there. Create on-ramps that will make it easier for her to invite her husband to come with her. Maximize special events that create bridges into the life of the spiritually mismatched partner. Offer small groups that mom would feel comfortable being a part of.
3. They are financially strapped.
According to Pew research, the average middle class family cannot absorb even one financial catastrophe. Credit has become a way of life for the American household. Digging ever deeper holes of debt with no end in sight. In other words, they’re strapped.
These families need more from a church than just another organization asking for their money. They need help. They need desperately not just to understand what tithing is all about. They need the basics. They need to learn how to earn, budget, spend and save their money. Fortunately, the Bible is one of the greatest manuals for money management on the planet!
POINT: Churches must teach on money beyond giving. We must offer classes on sound money management. In addition, when planning events and programs such as camps and conferences we need to consider whether the average family in our church could afford this and how we can make these extras more accessible.
4. They are over-calendared.
Most families are driven by the schedule of the kids. Practices, games, and recitals … And just in case you haven’t noticed, none of these extracurricular activities could give a flip if they conflict with church. Parents have become the willing slaves of these activities and even the most dedicated Christian families have decided to play tag on the weekend with one of them taking little Billy or Susie to their activity while the other one takes the leftovers to church.
Add to that chaos the fact that the standard work week isn’t standard any more. Many families are working 50-60 hours a week on a rotating schedule that cuts right through the weekend (yes, that includes Sundays).
POINT: Churches must become incredibly creative in their programming. Most churches offer only two choices: take it or leave it. Missional churches work hard to accomplish two objectives: 1) how do we make this more accessible? 2) how do we shorten this? You can either curse the culture or become “wise as serpents.”
5. They are biblically illiterate.
They have absolutely no idea what the Bible actually says.
To many it is a dark mysterious book filled with antiquated dictums of morality which are no longer relevant in the 21st century or it is a compilation of fables and fairy tales intended to teach some life lesson.
To others the Bible is a book that tells of an angry deity bent on suppressing happiness and destroying homosexuals.
One thing is sure, nearly all of them are misguided on the true content of Scripture.
It’s clear that many Americans — including Christians — don’t know their Bible. Just look at the numbers from a recent study:
More than 60 percent of Americans can’t name either half of the Ten Commandments or the four Gospels of the New Testament.
Some 80 percent (including “born again” Christians) believe that “God helps those who help themselves” is a direct quote from the Bible.
And 31 percent believe a good person can earn his/her way into heaven.
POINT: Churches need to stop assuming that their audience has any biblical knowledge whatsoever. Stop saying stupid things like, “open your Bibles to…” or, “I hope you brought your Bibles…” or even worse, “I hope you have a real Bible with you this morning and not some silly Bible app on your phone.” Have you not figured out yet that they don’t own one! We’ve got to begin at the beginning. Tell them how to get a good Bible. Teach the Bible for clarity, not to show off your academic prowess. Offer classes that introduce people to the Bible. Teach the stories of the Bible. Help people with Bible reading plans that make it easy for them to begin their journey with the Bible.
6. They are ethnically diverse.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s in the shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. That means that my parents and grandparents were culturally racist, meaning segregation was a cultural norm. Even if they didn’t embrace racism, they saw it as an acceptable division.
My generation had the knowledge that racial segregation was wrong, but most still lived under the unspoken cloud of racial suspicion/tension.
Millennials can’t really relate to any of that.
Up to 8.4 percent of new marriages are now interracial. This is up from .4 percent in 1960.
And although the culture has come a long way from the 1960s, most churches have not.
POINT: There are not many practical program changes I can think of to increase the welcoming of racial diversity. I think the most powerful cues come directly from the leadership. People pick up on the silent sense of acceptance that we telegraph. Church leaders must ask themselves how they truly feel about racial diversity. Do they see problems to be solved or just people to be loved?
7. They have a special needs child.
Families with special needs children are on the rise.
2 percent of children are diagnosed with autism
7 percent are diagnosed with ADHD
8 percent have a learning disability
14 percent have a developmental disability
17 percent of Americans experience a communications disorder
19 percent of Americans are classified as a person with a disability
2 percent of 13- to 18-year-olds are identified with an anxiety disorder
12 percent of the children in K-6 in our public schools are identified with a disability. Are 12 percent of the kids in our church programs identified as having a disability? Probably not. The reason may simply be because our churches are not ready to receive them.
POINT: Churches that are serious about reaching unchurched families need to begin thinking of ways we can reach families with special needs children. These families need the greatest amount of help. Granted, these needs are widely varied, immensely challenging, and highly complex. However, sometimes even small changes in our programs and approach can make a world of difference.
8. One in five have experienced some form of trauma in the home.
Abuse is common among families today. Whether it is domestic violence or sexual assault, there is a tremendous amount of pain behind the closed doors of American families.
1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime
44 percent of those were under 18 when it occurred
Two-thirds of all sexual assaults were conducted by a family member or close friend
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.
1 in 15 children are exposed to domestic violence each year, and 90 percent of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.
POINT: Churches need to do more than preach and teach. Churches should not be country clubs for cool Christians. They need to become hospitals for the hurting. They must bring hope and healing.
9. They want to be successful.
Unchurched families are coming with a myriad of challenges yet they want to build successful homes.
They want to be a good parent, but they aren’t sure how. They want to have a good marriage, but they aren’t exactly sure what that even looks like. They want to build a home that is a haven of harmony, but they find themselves trapped in a cycle of repeating the patterns of their own upbringing. They have an image of what they’d like to become, but they have no idea how to get there.
POINT: Churches can tap into that desire by offering practical applications that families can begin to implement at home. Churches are not supposed to be the primary spiritual equipping unit for the family–parents are! Churches must begin to shift their mindset from “we’re the experts” to “we’re the equippers” with the goal of making the home the primary disciple – making environment for the family.
10. They are spiritually hungry.
Wow, the American family seems to be in real trouble.
Yes it is, but the good news is best when the need is the greatest.
Bad times for the culture are good times for the church.
All of these characteristics are screaming, “We need Jesus!”
Make no mistake, many of these families are hungry for change.
They sense an emptiness for something deeper.
They’re searching for truth and meaning and hope and healing.
And they’re wondering if Christianity just might be what they’ve been looking for.
May we be the church that throws fuel on the fire of their quest.
May we remove every unnecessary encumbrance and unbiblical distraction and be the place of grace that reaches the ones Christ gave his very life for.
Notre Dame Prof: Our Schools are Committing ‘Civilizational Suicide’
Dr. Patrick Deneen has taught in some of America’s finest universities. He has been a professor at Princeton, Georgetown, and is now in the political science department at Notre Dame.
So what’s his assessment of America’s best students?
“They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their brains are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation. They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten nearly everything about itself, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference to its own culture.”
Deneen accurately diagnoses the problem: that schools today no longer seek to initiate students into a particular tradition, their tradition:
“But ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the Peloponnesian War? Who taught Plato, and whom did Plato teach? How did Socrates die? Raise your hand if you have read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Canterbury Tales? Paradise Lost? The Inferno?
Who was Saul of Tarsus? What were the 95 theses, who wrote them, and what was their effect? Why does the Magna Carta matter? How and where did Thomas Becket die? Who was Guy Fawkes, and why is there a day named after him? What did Lincoln say in his Second Inaugural? His first Inaugural? How about his third Inaugural? What are the Federalist Papers?”
Usually, people assume that this distressing situation is due to the failures of the modern education system. But according to Deneen, that is not the case. On the contrary, he writes that modern students’ ignorance is the education system’s “crowning achievement… the consequence of a civilizational commitment to civilizational suicide.”
He explains:
“What our educational system aims to produce is cultural amnesia, a wholesale lack of curiosity, history-less free agents, and educational goals composed of content-free processes and unexamined buzz-words like ‘critical thinking,’ ‘diversity,’ ‘ways of knowing,’ ‘social justice,’ and ‘cultural competence.’
Our students are the achievement of a systemic commitment to producing individuals without a past for whom the future is a foreign country, cultureless ciphers who can live anywhere and perform any kind of work without inquiring about its purposes or ends, perfected tools for an economic system that prizes ‘flexibility’ (geographic, interpersonal, ethical).”
If one holds to G.K. Chesterton’s maxim that a pessimist criticizes that which he doesn’t love, Deneen is no pessimist. He cares deeply for his students, and is frustrated that they haven’t been taught “what is rightfully theirs.”
But he is no false optimist either:
“But even on those better days, I can’t help but hold the hopeful thought that the world they have inherited—a world without inheritance, without past, future, or deepest cares—is about to come tumbling down, and that this collapse would be the true beginning of a real education.”
As Alasdair MacIntyre lamented in After Virtue, “[T]he barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time.” It’s perhaps too late to avoid a new Dark Age. Now is the time to begin the effort of recovery and rebuilding.
Professor Jordan B. Peterson has made headlines all over Canada for the past couple months. He is in a dogfight for freedom of speech against what he calls the unreasonable demands of “radical left ideologues” at the University of Toronto (U of T) where he teaches and across Canada where gay activists exert an excessive and ultimately harmful influence over elite institutions and the political class.
Peterson is uniquely qualified to take on the gender police at his university and in the provincial legislature and national parliament. At U of T, Peterson is a distinguished and widely published clinical psychologist and a tenured professor of psychology who has been teaching there since 1998. He has done extensive research in the psychology of political ideology and the psychology of religion. Unlike a great many professors in our highly secularized universities, Peterson is very much aware of the devastating consequences that follow from the eradication of religion. Indeed, his research and work as a clinician has made him acutely aware of the destructive ramifications caused by the abolition of religion, not only on society at large but also at the individual and personal level. This is something that is largely misunderstood and trivialized by the so-called new atheists. Many of his insights are quite valuable in understanding the multifaceted challenges we face. His longstanding interest in politics has led to detail studies on how totalitarian regimes and political ideologies destroy civilized life. Thus, one should not be surprised to find Canada’s boldest professor in the thick of controversy, a political firestorm that has raised his public profile because so few have the courage to challenge the political fashions of elite culture.
Canada has one of the most liberal stances on LGBTQ “rights” in the world. In 1969, homosexual acts were finally decriminalized due to legislation first introduced in 1967 by Pierre Trudeau, then justice minister and attorney general (who would become the fifteenth prime minister of Canada and father of the current prime minister, Justin Trudeau). Pierre Trudeau infamously said at the time: “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” On July 20, 2005, same-sex “marriage” was legalized at the federal level. Efforts to add gender identity and expression to the hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada moved closer to reality on October 18, 2016 when Bill C-16 passed on second reading in Parliament. Bill C-16 would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to include gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination. Critics of Bill C-16 argue that the law can be used as a weapon against unfashionable political speech.
Concerns over Bill C-16 The first thing to note is that the legislation was not passed by conventional democratic means since sponsors of the bill did not allow public hearings. The second point is that the bill has nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with the suppression of political speech. In response to Bill C-16, Peterson has posted three lectures explaining the various problems with this legislation (they can be found here: 1, 2 and 3). In the first video, he explains that he fears being brought in front of The Human Rights Commission for the things he is saying and teaching, which could be deemed as “hate speech” because of a carelessly and sloppily worded bill. Hate is a notoriously difficult word to define. It is hopelessly vague and could lead to the prosecution of innocent people. Peterson notes that both provincial and federal legislation already cover gender identity and gender expression (see Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Department of Justice).
He emphasizes that there is an overrepresentation of “social justice warrior” activists within the Ontario government including the premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, an outspoken lesbian and supporter of the LGBTQ community, who may be part of “a sophisticated radical leftist fringe” responsible for this hate crime legislation and the expansion of gender identities increasingly mandated by law. We can see her hand in recent Ontario legislation with Bill 28 expanding the definition of parents beyond “mother” and “father.”
If we just take a look at, for example, how gender identity is defined, we can discern a host of problems. “Gender identity is each person’s internal and individual experience of gender. It is their sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum.” Peterson states in his video that such an elastic definition of gender has not only been poorly written into legislation but also poorly thought out, which should be a major cause for worry. What is meant by “neither”? How can a human person be neither a man nor a woman? Could this be a reference to otherkins—persons that are not humans? Nonetheless, the denial of male or female is invalid in light of binary biological sex. Where is the evidence for this? Is this a denial of biological sex? Is this in reference to intersex individuals? It is not clear at all. What is meant by both? It seems to be demonstrably incoherent as currently expressed in legislation and vague language makes for very poor law. Peterson states that the separation of gender from one’s biological sex is a proposition and not a fact, one that has next to zero scientific support. The main fear is that bad legislation like this may hinder further scientific discussions on such issues, if not outright prohibit them as “hate speech.”
More than a month has passed since Peterson’s videos on political correctness. U of T has sent him two letters “urging” him to comply with university policies that require faculty to address transgendered students by the pronoun they prefer. Two demonstrations have transpired at the U of T campus where “social justice warriors” assaulted a journalist then lied about the assault. There were also serious attempts to silence Peterson. Peterson had a panel debate on a famous Canadian television show that tackles political issues: The Agenda. A couple of weeks ago Peterson had a debate with two other professors, on the subject of free speech and Bill C-16. The debate resembled more of a witch trial than a legitimate academic debate since Peterson was outnumbered and even the moderator sided against him on several occasions. Unlike his opponents, Peterson presented well-reasoned arguments to defend his position.
In an essay published in the London Catholic Herald, titled “My fight for free speech in Trudeau’s Canada,” Peterson warns our American friends that this is not only endemic to Canada:
Universities in the US are now even organising thought police, in the form of “Bias Response Teams,” which will report on and conduct “impact assessments” when a “bias incident” (which can be “intentional or unintentional”) occurs.
This has gone too far. It must be stopped, before it can’t be.
The upshot is that Peterson refuses to utter gender-neutral pronouns such as ‘thon,’ ‘hiz’ and ‘hizer’, ‘ne’ and ‘nir’, ‘ze’ and ‘zir’, and ‘xe’ and ‘xyr’ as substitutions to standard gender pronouns such as his and hers, him and her, he and she, or even they to refer to individual students: “I won’t mouth the words of ideologues, because when you do that you become a puppet for their ideology,” comparing the changes of the bill to “totalitarian and authoritarian political states.” What is also troubling about legislating people to refer to transgender individuals through gender-neutral pronouns is that there are by some estimations at least 63 differing genders, this would be an impossible feat. Perhaps one designation such as ‘they’ could be a concession but 63? One potential way of simplifying this whole ordeal is to only refer to someone by name, until you know someone’s name perhaps it is best not to assign them a pronoun? But again, this goes against standard societal conventions of how we interact daily with one another, we have evolved certain mechanisms that allow us to recognize when we are interacting with a male or female. At times, this distinction may be vague but for the most part it is quite accurate. Peterson explains, in an article for the Toronto Sun, the unreasonableness behind the law demanding we use such pronouns:
It is simply not reasonable for a stranger—say, a student in one of my classes—to request that I learn, speak and remember a whole set of personal descriptors as a precondition for our interactions. It is certainly not reasonable to demand that I do so—and it is absolutely unreasonable for that demand to have been given the force of law. You don’t get to exercise control over my speech.
The demand for use of preferred pronouns is not an issue of equality, inclusion or respect for others. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s a purposeful assault on the structure of language. It’s a dangerous incursion into the domain of free speech. It’s narcissistic self-centeredness. It’s part and parcel of the PC madness that threatens to engulf our culture.
The problem is not solely endemic to Canada; indeed, that persecution has already begun in the U.S. as well, for instance the case of Tony Esolen at Providence College, for writing a couple of essays on related issues for Crisis. Michael Rectenwald was asked to go on leave for a misunderstood twitter experiment at NYU and Edward Schlosser (writing under a pseudonym) exemplifies the fear mongering prevalent at the universities with his article: “I’m a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me.” These are just three examples. An important lecture by Gad Saad at the University of Ottawa explains the ever expanding reach of the politically correct thought police across North American university campuses and how this is limiting the free exchange of ideas. Already in New York City, one can be fined for not referring to someone by their preferred pronoun, which was instantiated by the New York City Human Rights Law.
How Can One Respond? All people of good will want to defend human rights and dignity. Those arguing in favor of Bill C-16 have attempted to argue that this is solely an issue of human rights and that recognizing all peoples’ gender identity and expression will guarantee a respect for their human dignity. However, their demands go beyond questions of human dignity. The bill will most definitely create more disunity than unity. It will most likely have a more alienating effect on transgender people, marginalizing them further than before. Moreover, it also plays into a wrongheaded culture of not only political correctness but of victimology and entitlement. Indeed, many students these days like to play the victim card and have a great sense of entitlement. Moreover, the use of a pronoun is not what truly demonstrates human dignity. It is something demonstrated through love and authentic understanding, something that cannot be legislated. The mere fact this is being legislated is a form of coercion and control, which has no merit when it comes to providing someone with basic human dignity. It simply cannot be forced.
Nevertheless, on another level, it is extremely difficult to see how totalitarian ideologues can seriously be understood as defenders of human freedom and dignity. On what basis? The scientific-materialist presuppositions that they base their worldview on do not guarantee human worth and dignity. Reliance on one’s own autonomy is self-defeating and ultimately dehumanizing since we are no greater than matter in motion. It is ironic to see “social justice warriors” want to defend human rights while simultaneously deprive others of their own fundamental rights. On the other hand, the Judeo-Christian belief system can provide a consistent and coherent basis for human rights and dignity because God is the equalizer and guarantor for all people (whether they believe in God or not) because he created all humanity in his own image.
Unfortunately, often enough, the radical leftists lack philosophical depth and erudition. This is why they are forcing their ideology through fiat as opposed to well-reasoned and tempered argumentation. This is also why debate and discourse are being stifled. Consequently, violence has ensued and uncivilized methods used to silence their critics. This is pure barbarism. We cannot allow this to happen, especially at our institutions of higher learning. Yet, it is precisely university administrators who have kowtowed to the demands of a radical minority. They sacrifice freedom of speech in favor of the faux right to never be offended.
Without acknowledging the existence of truth there can be no debate that leads to genuine human flourishing. Our self-worth does not come from a confused psychological identity crisis but is based on our common dignity, an inalienable value that transcends all socio-cultural impositions. Thus, we all need to act as champions of truth. We must stand against such tyranny at all levels of society regardless of our religious commitments. All who value freedom of speech as a means of resolving disagreement and discovering truth must stand against tyranny by supporting Peterson; you can go here to do so. Peterson in an interview segment on The Rubin Report, eloquently explains through the story of Pinocchio how we can all get involved and be authentic witnesses to truth. Peterson represents a flickering light in an increasingly dark time. If we unify we can turn that flicker into a blazing bright flame for all.
