The Church of England’s First Female Bishop Rev Rachel Treweel stated in conversation with the Sunday Telegraph that Christians must stop referring to God as a ‘He.’
Furthermore, the Bishop is warning against the constant usage of such because it will affect the children and form their opinions that God is a ‘He’;
“I don’t want young girls or young boys to hear us constantly refer to God as he,” the Bishop of Gloucester told the Sunday Telegraph.
The Bishop’s concern is centered around subliminal meaning and indirect communication.
“Whether it’s that you go to a website and you see pictures of all-white people, or whether you go to a website and see the use of ‘he’ when we could use God, all of those things are giving subconscious messages to people.
“I am very hot about saying we can always look at what we are
communicating.”
However, the Bishop is failing to recognize that the Bible mainly refers to God as a ‘He.’ Furthermore, other female church leaders are supporting the Bishop’s rhetoric.
Previously in the United States, and unrelated to the Church of England, the Methodist Church of Minnesota removed ‘Father’ from the historic Apostles Creed in an attempt to refrain from referring to God the Father as a ‘He.’
At the annual Minnesota Conference of the United Methodist Church, the historic Apostles’ Creed was edited to remove the word ‘Father,’ to make it more compliant with culture.
The creed goes back to the days of the Early Church and is an affirmation of the Christian Faith. The reading is still widely used in today’s churches and sometimes is used during parts of worship.
At the Minnesota Conference, which was held from May 30–June 1, liturgical folders reportedly included a copy of the creed that removed gender-specific language for God, changing “God the Father Almighty” to “God the Creator Almighty” and “Jesus Christ His Only Son” to “Jesus Christ God’s Only Son.”
