Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. One of the most effective tools in recent years to shape culture is the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. Today on Breakpoint, Katie Faust of Them Before Us explains. You may be surprised to learn that when you picked up that matte red lipstick at Ulta, you were helping fund cross sex hormones for gender confused kids.
Or that when you ordered that chicken al pastor with extra guac at Chipotle, you were subsidizing IVF and surrogacy, which is intentionally creating children who will be separated from their mother or father. That may sound extreme, but according to a new report published by my nonprofit then before us, there's often a pipeline between our daily purchases and child harm. This harm is thanks to the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. Launched in 2002, the CEI presents itself as a benchmarking tool, rating companies on how well they implement LGBTQ inclusion policies in the workplace. It promises to help businesses create fair, equitable environments for employees.
But far more than shaping office culture, It has quietly reshaped how corporations think about children. Families. and even the human body itself. And whether we realize it or not? Most of us are participating.
Companies don't just earn points for preventing workplace discrimination. They are rewarded for adopting a slate of policies that reach far beyond the office into medicine, reproduction, and family structure. That includes offering family formation benefits like IVF, surrogacy, and gamete donation. It includes covering gender transition procedures, and it includes financially supporting organizations that promote these practices even among minors. In other words, a high score isn't just about tolerance.
It's about aligning with a specific vision of what it means to be human, and that vision has consequences, especially for children. This isn't just about corporate policy. It's about anthropology. What does it mean to be human? What is a child?
Where do children come from? And what do they need? For most of human history these answers were obvious. Children come from a man and a woman. Those two adults are their literal biological origins.
And children are most likely to flourish when raised, whenever possible, by the mother and father who brought them into the world. But our culture is replacing that reality with something else. Children are redefined. not as persons with origins, but products of intention, not as gifts to be received, but as outcomes to be achieved. And when that happens, the logic of the marketplace begins to take over.
Think about what it means when companies are incentivized to subsidize IVF and surrogacy. IVF encourages the mass production of embryos so they can be eugenically screened for fitness or sex or other characteristics. It also allows for the use of third parties, severing children from one or both biological parents. Surrogacy adds an additional layer of child loss and risk, substituting contracts for relationships. Or consider the push for inclusive health coverage that covers irreversible medical interventions.
On minors, it harms their physical bodies. On adults, it often steals a child's father by facilitating his presentation as a mother. These corporate policies aren't neutral. They reflect a belief that the body itself, a child's own or those of his or her parents, is optional. It's something to be reshaped according to identity rather than received as a given.
And the kids are the constant losers. A Christian worldview offers the kind of clarity people need right now. Human beings are creatures, not the Creator. We are embodied souls, male and female, designed for relationship. with God and with one another.
Children are not lifestyle accessories or subjects of irreversible medical experimentation. They're image bearers and unable to protect themselves from corporations like Coca Cola or Procter and Gamble. Throughout history, the church has defended children against a variety of cultural threats. Whether female genital mutilation, abortion, infanticide, or Chinese footbinding, God's people have stood athwart all manner of child victimization.
Now we have a chance to join that great cloud of witnesses by doing something as simple as purchasing mulch from Lowe's rather than Home Depot. To be clear, none of this means that all employees or executives are acting with malicious intent. Many are unaware of what their perfect score produces and are motivated by compassion, inclusion, or a desire to do what's right. But good intentions are not enough.
So, what should we do? First, see clearly. Systems like the CEI aren't neutral. Christians should critique their comprehensive moral vision and not accept it. Second, we should think carefully about where to shop, the companies we support, and how we engage as employees or shareholders.
Finally, we need to speak truthfully and compassionately. not with outrage for its own sake. but with a commitment to defend those who cannot defend themselves. In the end, the question is not whether we value equality. It's whether our vision of equality still has room for children.
For the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, I'm Katie Faust with Breakpoint. Thanks, Katie. If you're a fan of these daily Breakpoint commentaries, would you please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast? And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Hey, breakpoint listeners, the Colson Center is coming to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Join John Stone Street and Oz Guinness at the Knoxville Convention Center on May 27th for a Truth Rising Watch Party. Truth Rising is a groundbreaking documentary about courageous faith in this civilizational moment. It tells the stories of Christians like Chloe Cole, Seth Dillon, and Jack Phillips choosing courage over fear, making a difference where God has called them. We'll have free popcorn and soda at the watch party, and we'll enjoy a live cue a day with John Stone Street and Oz Guinness after the film. Register today at colsoncenter.org slash Knoxville.
That's colsoncenter.org slash Knoxville.
