OUR FATHER? NOPE… Liberal Christian church to drop male pronouns describing God for “gender inclusivity”

02/09/2023 / By Belle Carter

The Church of England (C of E), the mother church of the international Anglican Communion, is considering stopping referring to God as “He” and dropping the phrase “our Father” from the start of the Lord’s Prayer.

To be more inclusive, Reverend Joanna Stobart, vicar in C of E’s diocese of Guildford, claimed that some clergy wants to refer to God not as He or Him, according to Telegraph. In a letter to the clergy, Stobart asked the Liturgical Commission to provide an update on the steps being taken to develop more inclusive language in their authorized liturgy.

She also instructed the bishops to give “more options for those who wish to use authorized liturgy and speak of God in a non-gendered way, particularly in authorized absolutions where many of the prayers offered for use refer to God using male pronouns.”

Rt. Rev. Michael Ipgrave, bishop of Lichfield and vice-chairman of the Liturgical Commission, said: “We have been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years, in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission.”

The Telegraph reported that after some dialogue between the two commissions in this area, “a new joint project on gendered language will begin this spring.” Ipgrave declined to comment further on the precise details of the project.

This proposal did not sit well with conservatives, who warned that “male and female imagery is not interchangeable.” Meanwhile, liberal Christians are open to it because they believe that “a theological misreading of God as exclusively male is a driver of much-continuing discrimination and sexism against women.”

The independent media outlet Infowars said this latest attempt to “shoehorn wokeness” into the C of E came after revelations of the establishment of a £100 million fund to “address past wrongs of slavery,” even as some church buildings are literally falling apart.

In addition to the Church’s woke ideologies, just last Christmas, the Loughborough C of E erased references to the nativity and Jesus in a Christmas carol and replaced them with a celebration of “queer” people. Also in July last year, C of E refused to define what a woman was, saying they had no definition of it in their books, despite still ostensibly opposing same-sex marriage. Moreover back in 2021, the Church announced quotas for black and ethnic clergy to give way to ‘anti-racism training,’ as well as ‘contextualizing church statues that may cause offense.’

The debate on the gender of God has been ongoing within the Church for decades. “For some, God as the father is helpful because of their positive experiences of a loving parent. For others, God as the father may reinforce a bad experience of a strict disciplinarian as their father. If we dig deeper, clearly God is not gendered, so why do we restrict our language for God in gendered ways?” said Prof Helen King, the vice-chairman of the Synod’s gender and sexuality group. (Related: Catholic leaders in Australia blaspheme God by teaching schoolchildren that he’s a “gender-neutral” LGBTQP.)

C of E’s General Synod to vote over blessings for same-sex couples

The woke mob is indeed at work in the liberal Christians as C of E’s governing body, General Synod, is gearing toward the historic and controversial vote over blessings for same-sex couples on Feb. 13.

The bishops announced in mid-January that they would not allow same-sex marriage but are open to blessing civil unions. They also apologized for the way the LGBTQI+ community was treated by the Church of England.

“For the first time, under historic plans outlined today, same-sex couples will be able to come to church to give thanks for their civil marriage or civil partnership and receive God’s blessing,” C of E’s official website said. It added that the bishops will urge all congregations in their care to welcome same-sex couples “unreservedly and joyfully” as they reaffirm their commitment to a “radical new Christian inclusion founded in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it – based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st Century understanding of being human and of being sexual.”

The deepest split on the issue has been between evangelicals being against moving away from the biblical concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman and those campaigning for full equality.

The Church promised that it would offer the fullest possible pastoral provision without changing the doctrine of Holy Matrimony for same-sex couples through a range of draft prayers, known as Prayers of Love and Faith, “which could be used voluntarily in churches for couples who have marked a significant stage of their relationships such as a civil marriage or civil partnership.”

Visit Wokies.news for more stories related to woke ideologies being pushed into the world today.

The video below discusses the C of E’s push for non-gendered pronouns when referring to God.

This video is from the Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.