The Twisted Self   

 Article by Carl Trueman

     Like Alice in Wonderland, we find ourselves in a world where yesterday's certainty seems to be watered down. The definition of marriage or the meaning of "woman" depends on who is speaking.

     He quotes Christian ethicist Oliver O'Donovan, 1970s: "The weakest argument of the abortion lobby is its strongest and most persuasive, that the baby in the womb is merely part of the woman's body. Their weak argument appeals to the intuitions of modern men and women who think of themselves as free and autonomous. ...who conceive of life's purpose as attaining personal psychological happiness, a sense of inner well-being."

     "Modern men and women got behind the argument that would give them what they wanted anyway - personal peace and contentment." 

     Trueman: ...this understanding of what it means to be human empowers the transgender lobby. "Until recently, most people would have scoffed at a man who claimed to be a woman trapped in the wrong body. Now, such statements are standard fair in our culture," right down to elementary schools. "It's becoming a requirement in cultural orthodoxy."

     "If we wish to understand the changes that are fracturing our society, we must see them within the context of how people think themselves to be. O'Donovan pointed to the broader moral imagination that made certain arguments - even very weak ones, rhetorically powerful."

 To be continued