Stop saying `He' for God: Top female UK bishop

Katie Grant

THE INDEPENDENT





The Church of England should stop using male pronouns when referring to God in order to counter the erroneous belief that the Almighty has a gender, the first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords has said.The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, the Church's most senior clergywoman, was being introduced to the Upper House on Monday as one of Parliament's 26 Lords Spiritual. Speaking before the event, the bishop raised the issue of God's gender, saying: “We're told that God created human beings in God's likeness... If I am made in the image of God, then God is not to be seen as male. God is God.“ Instead of using either “he“ or “she“ to describe God, Bishop Treweek said she prefers simply to use the word “God“.
“Sometimes I lapse, but I try not to,“ she told The Observer, reigniting a long-running debate in the Church of England about inclusion and gender equality . She added: “I am not in the business of wanting to offend anyone, but I do want to gently challenge people.“
Reverend Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, vicar of Belmont and Pittington in Durham, who is a member of the General Synod and also vicechair of pressure group Watch -Women and the Church -which promotes inclusive language in the Church of England, welcomed the bishop's comments. “God doesn't have a gender -God is beyond gender,“ she said.
Source: Times of India, 27-10-2015