November 30 – When we were assigned to read an opinion piece today from Crisis Magazine (Human Composting: The Ultimate Denial of the Soul), I was stunned. I thought, “How could our professor ask us to read an article, however thought-provoking, from such a bigoted source?” I know our professor vehemently condemns the queerphobia, misogyny, and racism spouted by the opinion writers for this website, which is why I have such a tough time understanding her purpose for assigning the article.

Perhaps, though, it should be me who is at fault for avoiding far-right viewpoints, and this was an attempt to encourage us to leave our comfort zones and echo chambers. After all, this article wasn’t necessarily spreading bigoted views about marginalized groups, it just happened to be featured on a website that did. Of course, that is an incredibly low bar to clear, and the article does spread harmful (and objectively false) statements about how the Church is the cure for depression, how America is a socialist state, and how abortion providers treat human life as disposable. Still, this begs the question: Is it right to completely devalue all the other valid criticisms of human composting that this article makes?

I imagine this article was placed on our reading list to provide a religious perspective on the “radical” practice of recomposition, and I do appreciate having that. I just cannot help but wonder if there might have been another article we could have been assigned instead, without the conservative nonsense. Yet asking that brings me back to whether it is wrong to avoid these viewpoints, since it is our unfortunate reality that they are held by a vast number of people in our country.

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December 2 – As I wrote the above, unfinished post a few days ago, I found no resolution to my feelings about reading the human composting article. However, when I happened to check the Crisis Magazine website today, I saw that a new article was uploaded: Dysconnected: An Excarnational Reckoning Is Coming.

Briefly reviewing this piece has given me some clarity about the quandaries I have been struggling with. While I admit that the human composting article had some value, I believe that it is completely lost when an article about “the insanity of the transgender movement” is one click away.

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Support Resources for LGBTQ Individuals: https://www.ncfr.org/resources/resource-collections/support-resources-lgbtq-individuals-and-families