Faith and Values: Blinded by binaries: Why we don’t see the infinite dignity of two-spirit people

There is much to learn from and praise in Dignitas Infinita (Infinite Dignity), the April 8 Vatican declaration.

Several times this declaration notes that this is the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and echoes its language, especially that of Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and equal in conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

In the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, the Vatican declaration condemns, for example, slavery, human trafficking, the death penalty and degrading working conditions. It upholds the rights of the poor, of immigrants and migrating people and of marginalized people with disabilities.

Another source of the Vatican’s defense of humanity’s infinite dignity is, as one might expect, the Bible. The incarnation of God in Jesus and the teachings of Jesus are especially held up, as is this verse from the opening creation story in Genesis: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Scholars have suggested that the imagery in the biblical creation story presented in Genesis 1 purposely differs from and subverts imagery in earlier Near Eastern myths and temples according to which only the king is made in the image of the divine one, and so only the king has divine rights. In the biblical account, since all humanity is made in the image of God, all humanity has God-given rights and infinite dignity.

Vatican’s critique of gender theory

Toward the end of Infinite Dignity, in sections titled “Gender Theory” and “Sex Change,” the Vatican shifts its attention to the latter portion of Genesis 1:27: “male and female he created them.” The Vatican argues that the differences between men and women are God-given and to be celebrated. They are essential to the “natural order,” as they lead to the generation of other people. The Vatican critiques gender theory for suggesting that gender is a social construct, and thus adjustable, fluid.

Gender theorists would likely support the rights of those who wish to change the sex of their birth to conform to their gender identity. The Vatican denounces this as a false human right, one not in keeping with its understanding of human dignity.

The Vatican declaration condemns those who persecute people for their sexual orientation, but its understanding of human dignity is wedded to binary opposites. God made people male and female and apparently nothing else, so nothing else has infinite dignity.

This view puts the Vatican in an unholy alliance with Idaho’s Legislature, which in order to wipe out the rights of transgender people has declared that there only two sexes, male and female.

The openness of Indigenous cultures with their nonbinary members

I’m struck by how much more open Indigenous cultures throughout the world are to the value and dignity of those who do not fit into binary constructs. In North America, one pan-tribal term for such people is “two-spirit.” Two-spirit people may be considered as a third gender. They are especially gifted traditional artists and often play important tribal roles as healers, shamans and ceremonial leaders.

We in the Christian tradition are often blinded by binaries that block our vision of all that is real and holy. Perhaps some of our obsession with binaries can be traced back to the opening account of creation in Genesis in which night and day, darkness and light are created, along with males and females.

As the pastor of my church noted when serving on a panel discussing LGBTQ+ rights, God not only created night and day, but everything in between – all twilights and all shades of color, all kinds of people in the world.

The Vatican and rest of us would do well to awaken to the cultural wisdom and perspective of other people such as those with two spirits. Surely their enjoyment of infinity dignity increases ours.

Walter Hesford was a professor of English at the University of Idaho, where he taught American Literature, World Literature and the Bible as Literature. He currently coordinates an interfaith discussion group, and is a member of the Latah County Human Rights Task Force and Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Moscow.