A commission for the Presbyterian Church in America sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and congressional leaders condemning the administration’s advocacy for sex-change surgeries in minors.
“We, the Presbyterian Church in America, the largest body of confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches in North America, consisting of more than 1,500 congregations and 374,000 members across the United States and Canada, humbly petition you to protect the lives and welfare of minor children from the physical, mental, and emotional harms associated with medical and surgical interventions for the purpose of gender reassignment,” they wrote. “Furthermore, we call upon you to use your positions to promote the health, bodily integrity, and wellbeing of minors who are suffering from gender dysphoria and related conditions.”
The group implored the administration to “protect the Nation’s children,” writing that all people are “created in the image of God.”
“This unique status accords all human beings with inherent dignity, a dignity that extends to both soul and body. For over two thousand years, the Christian Church in all her branches has stood on the teaching that the value of the human body arises from its source, which is from God, and its purpose, which is to bear God’s image.”
Their petition is also based on “God’s love for children.”
“As Christians, we recognize that we live in a fallen world in which some children and adults experience a perceived incongruence between their biological sex and their internal sense of gender. These feelings of gender incongruence cause severe psychological distress often associated with debilitating anxiety and depression,” the letter added. “We genuinely sympathize with the parents and loved ones of those who experience this kind of suffering—many of them in our churches.”
The commission then discussed the “irreversible” risks presented with gender transition surgeries.
“Among these risks, which are often irreversible, include conditions such as sterility, infertility, cancer, cardiovascular disease, strokes, blood clots, pituitary apoplexy, pseudotumor cerebri, and diminished bone density,” explaining that the risks are “even higher” among children.
“Since the brain has not yet fully developed during puberty and adolescence, minor children are not mentally and emotionally ready to give informed consent to life-altering and non-reversible medical procedures. And with the increase in depression, anxiety, isolation, and alienation of children and adolescents in the United States and Canada—exacerbated by the use of social media and, more recently, COVID-19 policies— young people often experience fluctuating emotions and internal confusion,” they wrote.
The commission emphasized, “Children whose minds and personalities are still developing do not yet possess the perspective or maturity to make these irreversible decisions; they should be given time to accept their biological sex, which occurs in the majority of teens allowed to progress through natural puberty.”
A PCA spokesperson told The Christian Post, “It is more important than ever to protect children from the harms that come from rejecting biological sex. God created humanity male and female; persons who try to change their biological sex are attempting the impossible.”
“Children, above all, must be protected and given time to progress through natural puberty. The PCA’s letter affirms the Bible’s care for children as a reflection of God’s love and asks leaders of the United States government to protect the lives and welfare of the most vulnerable among us,” the spokesperson shared.
While a commission with the Presbyterian Church condemned transgenderism among children, the Catholic Church announced that transgender individuals may be baptized.
“A transgender person, even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful, if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful,” an official said in a document.
