Controversial legislation doesn't pass the Golden Rule test | Opinion

The Golden Rule isn’t just a Christian ideal. A form of it appears in almost every religion, every tradition and every culture in the world. A form of it was in the Code of Hammurabi, written in 1750 B.C. It was part of the law in ancient Egypt, ancient Persia and ancient Greece. It’s in the Sanskrit from ancient India. Seneca, Confucius, Buddha and Mohammed all taught it. It also appears in Hinduism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, the Wiccan religion and Scientology. And, of course, Jesus articulated it as summing up all “the Law and the Prophets,” which was what they called the Jewish Scriptures at the time.

This means that human beings have always understood the truth that it is important to treat others in the same way as we ourselves want people to treat us. It is important for human community and for the health of human society that we follow the Golden Rule, regardless of our faith tradition. The Golden Rule is what it means to be a decent human being for people of all faith traditions, or no faith tradition at all.

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Right now there are three proposed pieces of legislation in Tennessee that do not pass the Golden Rule test. One of them says that medical facilities must deny gender-affirming health care to transgendered young people, even if their parents want it for them and their doctors agree. Another would make it a crime for parents to seek gender-affirming care for their transgendered children. Those parents could be charged with child abuse. These same health care treatments are still available, however, to parents of heterosexual teenagers, if they desire it and the doctors agree.

The supporters of these pieces of legislation are the same people who said it is the parents’ choice whether or not their children should get the COVID-19 vaccine or wear masks. In those cases, parents know best. They want their parental rights to be respected while not respecting the parental rights of others.

The third bill criminalizes “adult cabarets” that could be seen by any person who is not an adult. Though it doesn’t explicitly define the term, most of the rhetoric has been around drag performances. So, if parents want to take their child to an age-appropriate drag show (they are rated, just like movies), they can’t. But if parents want to take their child to a wrestling match or a comic book convention, where adults also dress up in costumes, that’s perfectly OK.

I don’t imagine the supporters of this bill want the government telling them which TV shows or movies their kids shouldn’t be allowed to watch, or which video games they aren’t allowed to play. For better or for worse, we have said that parents, not the government, get to make those kinds of decisions for their children. Gov. Bill Lee said it himself on Twitter: “Parents know better than the government what’s best for their children.” Unless their child is gay or transgendered or they want to take them to a drag show, I guess.

Not only are these pieces of legislation hypocritical and an egregious example of governmental overreach, they do not pass the Golden Rule test. They do not uphold Christian ideals or the ideals of countless other cultural and faith traditions. To our state legislators and governor, if you value the Golden Rule – if you think, as generation after generation of human beings have affirmed, that society is better off when we treat others as we would want to be treated – then these pieces of legislation must be defeated.

Tim Reynolds is a husband, a father and the pastor of 2nd Presbyterian Church in Knoxville.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Opinion: Controversial legislation doesn't pass the Golden Rule test