The Soul Problem of Today’s ‘Identity Crisis’

A recent Gallup poll revealed that nearly 10% of American adults identify as LGBTQ. That’s a significant jump, as Gallup’s tracking shows that LGBTQ identity was just under 4% a decade ago.

This news also suggests the LGBTQ population has basically achieved “tipping point,” the 10% threshold level at which a minority belief gets accepted by the majority.

What’s driving this identity trend? Many factors are possible.

One possibility is divorce, or rather, lack of marriage. Around 1 in 3 American children live in a single parent home today, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports. While many would likely try to deny it, such a situation contributes a great deal of instability to a child’s life, even if that single parent is very loving and does his or her best to raise that child.

The lack of instability, moorings, or belonging that children in single parent families experience extend beyond the home, however, as pillars of support – such as close communities or small, family-like schools – have gradually declined. Covid, in particular, diminished the social connection many have, as Americans turned to their phones rather than in-person interactions. This last factor seems especially relevant as the Gallup poll above shows LGBTQ identity almost doubling since the pandemic’s start in 2020.

But what if this whole identity trend or crisis is about more than our disconnection from family, friends, and community? Could it actually stem from society’s increasing disconnection from the soul?

I thought of this after reading a passage in “The Sword of Imagination,” the autobiography of Russell Kirk, one of the great conservative thinkers and writers of the 20th century. Speaking of his childhood in the third person, Kirk writes about his own contemplation of himself as a human being:

He [Kirk] became aware that he was more than a person: the persona, after all, means a mask merely. He was a soul; if a soul in a fleshly prison, still a soul.

That conviction sweeps away the ‘identity crisis’ so much written about in recent years. … With recognition of one’s soul, identity is established. [Emphasis added.]

Kirk, although not religious at the time, confesses that he seized on this truth of the human soul, and while he doesn’t admit it outright, suggests that this truth gave him worth and dignity in life.

I can’t help but wonder if this same truth applies to the “identity crisis” we see today. As the chart above shows, individuals latching on to unnatural sexual identities have exploded in recent years. But over that same time span belief in spiritual things – those all-important factors relating to the human soul, its relationship to God, and its continued existence in the great hereafter – has also experienced a drastic decline in America, as seen in another chart from Gallup.

Yes, we all know that correlation is not causation … but isn’t it also foolish to overlook the possibility that society’s increasing tendency to diminish the human soul and brush spiritual realities into a corner may be causing Americans to desperately grasp at straws in order to find some self-worth and meaning in life?

Today’s identity advocates often encourage individuals to look within, discover who they really are, and then embrace that reality. The trouble is, those same individuals are likely not looking deep enough, for if they would accept that their lack of worth and identity is at its core a lost soul problem, then they would likely find the true identity for which they are searching.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.

Image Credit: Negative Space, CCO