Does God Want People To Be Unequal?

Last updated on: March 4, 2016 at 1:59 pm By Melinda Selmys

One of the phrases that I’ve seen tossed around a lot this election cycle is “personal responsibility.” It’s usually used to mean that people need to be encouraged to take more responsibility for their own situations, to work harder and to rely less on the government. Obviously, personal responsibility is good. The Catechism teaches that taking responsibility for the things that are in our immediate sphere of concern (family, work) is the first step toward conscientious participation in public life.... Read more

Beauty Policing: The Consequences of Transgender Bathroom Politics

Last updated on: March 3, 2016 at 3:03 pm By Melinda Selmys

Libby Anne has a good article on Transgender bathroom use over on the Atheist channel at Love, Joy, Feminism. The last paragraph is a little on the ranty side, but otherwise it’s a very good treatment of some of the major issues. There are a couple of things that I would add. The first is that while Libby is absolutely right that trans women need to be able to safely use public restrooms, the radical feminists are not entirely crazy... Read more

Does God Make Mistakes? (And are Trans People One of Them?)

Last updated on: February 27, 2016 at 5:02 pm By Melinda Selmys

One of the questions that people often ask when talking about trans issues is “Do you think God makes mistakes?” The implication here is that the only way it makes any sense for trans identities to be real is if God somehow messed up when He was handing out chromosomes and genitalia. Well, there are two possible ways for trans identities to be real and valid without having to conclude that God screwed up. The first and most obvious one... Read more

Just How Clear is the Church’s Teaching About Trans People?

Last updated on: February 22, 2018 at 5:30 pm By Melinda Selmys

One of the comments that I often hear about the Catholic approach to transgender and transsexual issues is that the Church has “a very clear teaching.” The assumption is that we simply need to proclaim this teaching, no matter how unpopular it is, in order to uphold the truth about the human person, male and female. Whenever I hear this, I suspect that the person making the comment has had little to no experience actually dealing with the transgender, queer or intersex communities. Read more

Q Conference Denver

Last updated on: February 24, 2016 at 12:03 pm By Melinda Selmys

I’m going to be writing and blogging about trans and gender stuff again over the next couple of months as I get ready for my presentation at Q Denver in April (it’s the 21-23, for anyone who’s interested in attending.) There’s a lot of ground that I covered on my old blog that I don’t want to have to go over again, so if it’s a conversation that you’re interested in joining you may want to take a look: Transmisconceptions I’ve... Read more

Lesser Evil: A Merciful Monstrosity?

Last updated on: February 22, 2016 at 11:37 am By Melinda Selmys

Yesterday, Pope Francis alluded to the lesser evil argument in relation to contraception and the Zika virus. Fortunately, social media only mildly exploded about this — because it was too busy exploding about the exchange between Francis and Trump. But actually, this is much more important and interesting. I’ve been trying to get my head around the lesser evil thing, and frankly, it hurts. Why? Simply put, because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of agreement about this –... Read more

Dagnabbit! ‘Dat Pesky Socialist Wabbit!

Last updated on: February 17, 2016 at 6:38 pm By Melinda Selmys

I’ve been challenged by a gentleman writing under the name of Dagnabbit to respond to a more robust defense of the conservative/libertarian view than that which I addressed earlier. Dagnabbit’s comment is long, and it would take more than one blog entry to adequately address all of his points so I’m going to confine myself to dealing with the question of what government is, and whether the redistribution of wealth through taxation is a just practice. I’m going to rely... Read more

John Paul II, Intimate Friendship, and the Fluidity of Philia and Eros

Last updated on: February 16, 2016 at 10:15 am By Melinda Selmys

The BBC has an interesting story today on an “intense” friendship between John Paul II and philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. The story itself is quite beautiful, but it's also interesting to see the reactions that circle around it. Read more

A World Without Evil

Last updated on: February 15, 2016 at 6:13 pm By Melinda Selmys

One of my correspondents recently asked me about the problem of suffering, specifically as it relates to people who aren't capable of understanding or deriving meaning from their own suffering – infants or people with mental incapacities, for example. Read more

How to Practice the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy Online

Last updated on: February 15, 2016 at 8:09 am By Melinda Selmys

Many people, aware that online spaces can provide occasions for sin, give up social media for Lent, pulling themselves away from temptations to vain contention, meddlesomeness, voyeurism, self-congratulation, attention-seeking, sarcasm or just plain sloth. They know that the Internet’s lack of visibility and accountability can bring out the worst in us. Clocking out for 40 days can provide a much-needed spiritual respite, but if in the end you return to the same bad habits, what have you really done? To... Read more