Should Christians Use Preferred Pronouns?
If someone at work or school demands that I use their “preferred pronouns,” am I showing Christ’s love by doing so, or am I participating in a lie? How does a Christian balance grace and truth in this situation?
The word that strikes me in your question is demands. I’m not necessarily proud of myself for this, but if somebody were to demand that I use a pronoun that doesn’t fit with their actual gender, then I would be inclined to not give in to that demand. I would feel like I’m being bullied, and I don’t like that. I can’t say that I always courageously stand up to a bully; sometimes I buckle under the pressure, but I would hope not to. I would say no. If somebody demanded that I ignore reality and pretend that something is not the way it is and not the way God made it, then I would resist it. I would try to politely answer. I wouldn’t want to be provocative or even confrontational in my tone, but I wouldn’t change the way that I would refer to that person. I don’t think that we should give in to such demands.
Now, there may be diplomatic ways to avoid this, by referring to people by their last name, finding other ways to refer to them that don’t include pronouns or an assumed name. But I find it offensive, bullying, and practically totalitarian to be forced to call a man “her” or a woman “him”.