Congenital Disabilities and Gender Nonconforming Identities as Parts of God's Intended Creation.

Some Christians believe that God's creational norm for humanity is binary sex and gender, and that intersex or transgender variations resulted from humanity's fall into sin. Likewise, some Christians believe that conditions like hereditary deafness or Down syndrome would not exist were it not for the Fall. However, scientific study shows that some of these conditions are caused by physical and chemical processes that are inevitable consequences of how natural laws operate. This adds weight to theological arguments that they are intended parts of God's creation, included for human diversity. How we theologically classify congenital disabilities or gender nonconforming identities can profoundly affect how we treat individuals. Psychological studies demonstrate significant positive or negative consequences for physical and mental health of gender nonconforming individuals correlated with the theological views of their religious community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]