We were encouraged by actions by France and Sweden this week on issues that matter very much to intercessors:

Sweden Protects Children from Transgender ‘Dogma’

According to Christianity.com, “What if the next step in the sexual revolution is not inevitable. What if a backlash to a transgender dogma that’s clearly overstepped legal and parental authority is in the air. . . .

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Carl Trueman thinks so, and his prediction seems vindicated by the recent decision of Karalinska Hospital in Sweden, one of the world’s most renowned medical establishments, to end the practice of prescribing puberty-blockers to minors.

The hospital cited the high risk-to-benefit ratio of hormonal interventions in children to justify their decision. What’s called the “Dutch Protocol,” of blocking puberty and then administering cross-sex hormones, may be falling out of favor. The National Health Service has suspended new hormonal interventions for minors under 16, and there’s growing resistance across Finland too.

Chemically altering the bodies of healthy children after teaching them to hate their bodies isn’t just bad medicine; it’s malpractice. Turning around from this ledge is progress, and proves a jump over it isn’t inevitable. . . .

France Bans Gender ‘Inclusive’ Language in Education

According to Christian Post, “France’s ministry of education has prohibited the use of gender “inclusive” language, asserting that it harms the process of learning the French language.

The education ministry sent out a decree to schools across the Western European nation in an effort to end the use of midpoints, period-like dots that are placed in the middle of words, separating most of the word from its ending, which designates it as either masculine or feminine. . . .

Academie Francaise, which is also known as the French Academy and is the institution entrusted with preserving the language, has stated that the “gender-inclusive” words are “harmful” to the practice and understanding of the French language.

In the French language, masculine endings are usually more prevalent in nouns.  . . .

The decree from the education ministry stated that the use of midpoints creates confusion while learning the language, especially for children.

The decree, translated by Google Translate, states: “So-called ‘inclusive’ writing should be avoided, which notably uses the midpoint to simultaneously reveal the feminine and masculine forms of a word used in the masculine when it is used in one sense.” . . .

In an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, France’s Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said that using midpoints is a problem, particularly for students with learning disabilities. Putting dots in the middle of words presents a barrier when it comes to teaching the [French] language,” he said. In response to the decree, the French teacher’s union, Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques Education Union accused Blanque of imposing his “backwardness” upon educators and urged schools to disregard the order.

Other education officials say the use of midpoints for the purposes of gender inclusivity signals a “defeat” of the French language and will discourage people from learning it altogether in light of the growing dominance of English globally.  . . .

Gender-inclusive language does not employ midpoints in English, as many nouns are not gendered. What has transpired in English-speaking countries is the adoption of transgender-friendly terms that obscure the sex of the body, such as saying “pregnant people” or “birthing bodies” to include women who identify as men. . . .

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(Excerpt from Christianity.com and Christian Post.  Photo Credit: Canva.)