A written question posed to the Liturgical Commission, which prepares and promotes forms of service and religious worship in the Church, prompted the news. The project is expected to begin later this year. However, the exact details of the project remain unknown.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Michael Ipgrave, stated "We have been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years.". This has been in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission.

The move has been criticised by some conservatives who have warned that "male and female imagery is not interchangeable".

Meanwhile, liberal Christians have welcomed the project, saying "a theological misreading of God as exclusively male is a driver of much continuing discrimination and sexism against women".

The use of male pronouns for God is a long-standing tradition in the Church and any permanent changes to the language would have to be agreed by the General Synod.

No plans to revise current liturgies

However, the Church of England stated that there were no plans to abolish current services and that "there are absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise currently authorised liturgies, and no such changes could be made without extensive legislation".

The move towards a more inclusive language reflects a growing global awareness about the assumed usage of pronouns and their impact on those who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

A spokesperson for the Church of England said, "Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship".

The issue of a gender-neutral God is one of several topics causing tension within the Church as the General Synod prepares for a historic vote on blessings for same-sex couples.

Sources

Reuters

The Telegraph

Aiming to teach the girls at the region's exclusive Catholic schools to use inclusive language, the girls are not allowed to use male-centric terms or the words 'Lord', 'Father' and 'Son'.

The girls at AU$40,000 a year Stuartholme School in Brisbane, are taught to use the word 'Godself' instead of 'himself'.

"As we believe God is neither male or female, Stuartholme tries to use gender-neutral terms in prayers … so that our community deepens their understanding of who God is for them, how God reveals Godself through creation, our relationships with others and the person of Jesus," a spokeswoman says.

The principal of another school says prayers written for use within the college didn't assign God a gender. The word 'Lord' is not used anymore as it is a "male term".

A different view is taken at another girls' school where gender-neutral terms are used wherever possible but for traditional prayers gendered language is still used.

That school says context is important and helps decide what language is appropriate.

The Catholic Office for the Participation of Women director says she is 'thrilled' and it was 'terrific' schools were moving towards inclusive language.

The Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference has previously suggested schools use gender-neutral terms where appropriate.

Brisbane's top Catholic boys' school St Joseph's College has replaced the term 'brothers' with 'sisters and brothers' and 'brotherhood' with 'international community'.

"This has been an area of growth for us in recent times," a spokesman says.

"We have made changes to a number of prayers to be more gender-inclusive."

Source

• Daily Mail
• Image: journeychristianmagazine.com