In a more typical year, last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia—heralded as a gigantic win for LGBTQ+ rights—would have caused a significant stir among theologically conservative faith communities. But I saw relatively little about the decision from Christians in my social media feeds. Maybe this is because the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and racial unrest are so all-consuming that we have little energy to muster for another concerning national headline. Maybe it’s because the decision itself is open to interpretation. Or maybe—and I fear this might be the bigger reason—many Christians are simply growing weary of defending a biblical sex ethic in a culture that long abandoned it. Maybe we have such a weak grasp of the importance of religious liberty that it doesn’t seem worth risking our reputation to defend.

Whatever the reason for the relative shrug expressed by many Christians at Bostock (certainly compared with the response five years ago to Obergefell’s legalization of same-sex marriage), it doesn’t change the fact that Bostock represents a significant and foreboding milestone in our culture’s growing confusion about sex and gender—and one with severe implications for the future of religious freedom. In the article below, Joe Carter gives a brief overview of the Bostock decision and offers three initial reasons why Christians should be concerned about the court’s ruling that the term “sex” entails gender identity and sexual orientation. As exhausting as it is to continually defend orthodox faith and biblical wisdom in a culture where these things are contested on multiple fronts (and from all sides of the political spectrum), I pray God gives us the courage, clarity, and energy to persevere in faithfulness.