The most senior female bishop in Britain said that church should stop calling God as ‘He’ after a survey discovered most young Christians assume that God is male.
According to research by YouGov, almost half of 18 to 24-year-old Christians think that God is male. One in three seniors also assumes the same thing.
The Church’s first female diocesan bishop Rv Rev Rachel Treweek said to The Telegraph: “I don’t want young girls or young boys to hear us constantly refer to God as he,’ adding that it was important to be ‘mindful of our language.”
This is not the first time she made these claims. Rt Rev Rachel Treweek said in the past: “God is not to be seen as male. God is god.”
Rev Treweek also refused the title of ‘right reverend father’ in 2015. Now, she claims that non-Christians feel a sense of alienation from the Church as public announcements describe God to be male and the image of God is also painted as male.
She said: “For me particularly in a bigger context, in all things, 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 can we always look at what we are communicating.”
Rev Treweek also said that when she preaches and leads prayers, she tries to avoid the issues of male language by including female imagery from time to time. While she doesn’t avoid it completely, she tries to avoid that need to say ‘him’ or ‘his’ often.
Revd Sally Hitchener also said that there was a movement organized to give emphasis to God’s feminine nature.
Revd Dr Ian Paul told The Telegraph that he believed the figures are partly rooted in a culture where “sex identity is present.”
He added: “I think it makes it increasingly hard for young people to think of personal being without thinking of sex identity—and so if God is the ultimate ‘person’ then God must be sexed – i.e. male or female.”
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