By Mark W. Fowler

“And that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun.” —Ecclesiastes 1:10 (New American Standard Bible)

On June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei was found guilty of heresy for writing a book positing that the Earth revolved around the Sun. It was an argument made on careful mathematical measurements. Copernicus had come to the same conclusion a few years earlier based only the observations he made with his own eyes. At the time, these views were astounding and heretical in that they were contrary to those of Orthodox Christian leaders. The orthodox view at the time was that the Earth was the center of the universe, an erroneous opinion derived from misunderstanding the Scriptures. Nevertheless, both men were condemned by the Church. It would be over 300 years before the Church officially recognized the heliocentric nature of the universe. Everyone remembers Galileo. Only historians remember the name of the pope at the time of this episode (Urban VIII). Galileo and Copernicus were forced to stop teaching and writing about heliocentrism.

We have now a different orthodoxy coming from a different religion. This new orthodoxy teaches that gender is a social construct. Gender is fluid. There are many genders, not just two. The Christian Church is no longer the repository of wisdom in matters of human existence. The new religion is Transgenderism, and its adherents, practitioners, and supporters in medicine and academia preach a new orthodoxy contrary to thousands of years of human experience. This new religion is not based on mathematically proved observations or on optical observations. It is based on “feeling.” As in, “If you feel you are a woman trapped in a man’s body, then ipso facto, you are a woman.” Orthodoxy requires a new language. “Chestfeeding” replaces “breastfeeding. "Menstruating person” replaces “woman of reproductive age.” “Pregnant person” replaces “pregnant woman.”

Proponents with impeccable credentials testify in front of Congress that “men can get pregnant.” Ketanji Brown Jackson, now on the Supreme Court, had no working definition of what a woman was inasmuch as she was not a biologist. Does it follow that if a sexual discrimination case involving understanding what a woman is should present to the Court, she should recuse herself? True transgenderism is relatively rare. It is a psychiatric disorder, a delusional state now made more “popular” or acceptable to embrace.

And it is dangerous. Dangerous because troubled youths embrace the notion that their very real emotional distress can be rectified if they mutilate their bodies and take hormones. It is dangerous because it is disseminated in social media in an environment likely to foment hysteria.

Dr. Christy Hammer of the University of Southern Maine can describe another dangerous aspect of it. Dr. Hammer is an education professor teaching a class on Creating a Positive Learning Environment. One of her graduate students, who is “nonbinary,” was absent on the day Dr. Hammer stated her belief that there were only two genders. When the student returned, she asked Dr. Hammer to restate her position, which she did, whereupon the student had a meltdown, claiming she felt personally attacked. Twenty-one of 22 students then walked out in protest, apparently not interested in positive learning environments, and subsequently demanded Dr. Hammer retire, be fired, or “‘reeducated.”

University administrators, seizing this opportunity to demonstrate there is no intelligent life in the administration building at the University of Southern Maine, created an alternative class for those who objected and offered the students support. This after a restorative justice meeting on the matter failed to generate an acceptable solution.

Galileo stood firm, knowing he was right. For his convictions, he was placed on house arrest and deprived of the opportunity to teach others. One hopes that Dr. Hammer will take solace in the support of 2,000 students and faculty who signed a petition on her behalf. 
Galileo enlightened the world with his heresy. The students of Dr. Hammer, now acting in the same spirit of the prosecutors of witches of old, want to take us backward to darkness.

The light. Go toward the light.

Mark Fowler is a board-certified physician and former attorney. He can be reached at [email protected].