The sign of convergence, of ineffectiveness, is that you signal virtue. You give publicly. You demand the praise of others. You make it part of promoting your brand.
Disclosure: I used to bank with ASB. I need to now close all my business with them. Because while they are auditing their employers for that modern sin, homophobia, they are not running a bank. And a bank they are supposed to be. Any converged institution is failing.
ASB commits to LGBTI inclusion by joining Rainbow Tick
ASB has become the first New Zealand bank to commit to formal benchmarks around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) inclusion in the workplace through participation in the Rainbow Tick programme. The Rainbow Tick is an external audit and quality improvement programme designed to make an organisation a safe, welcoming and inclusive place for people of diverse gender identity and sexual orientation.
ASB Chief Executive Barbara Chapman says participation in the Rainbow Tick programme reflects a belief in the importance of diversity across all levels of the Bank.
“There’s an enormous body of evidence that points to the benefits that diversity of thought, insights, perspectives and experiences bring to organisational performance. We truly want people from all groups to bring their ‘whole selves’ to work and to create dynamic and innovative teams attuned to all our customers,” Ms Chapman says. “Displaying the Rainbow Tick is a public demonstration of our commitment to ensure that as an organisation, we are creating an inclusive environment for members of the LGBTI communities.”
Rainbow Tick programme director Michael Stevens says that Rainbow Tick is delighted with the opportunity to work with ASB. “ASB is the first bank in New Zealand to take up the Rainbow Tick programme, demonstrating leadership in this field and their commitment to fostering a truly welcoming environment for staff of all backgrounds regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We look forward to working together.”
And this includes the church. How to we correct for this?
We leave the virtue signalling to the Unitarians.
1“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Every virtue signal can be subverted. They can be disarmed. What the virtue signallers do not understand is that all their sincere effort is simply grounds for mockery. We are in a spiritual war between truth and the narrative, between life and death, and memes are the rhetorical device of the times.
That which we do for good we shall do quietly. This is sensible, it is good OPSEC. In a crisis we will give through our churches and not let those around us know. We will let the celebrities be filmed in our soup kitchens, but when the cameras are gone we will continue.
For we are more interested in the praise of God than man. The day we, as a church, or individual, consider the praise of society more important than God is the day we converge. And fall. And become worse than ineffective.