National Public Radio shares the left end of the FM radio dial with religious broadcasters, but they have absolutely nothing in common. NPR has a long record of loathing orthodox Christianity. The latest proof? They promoted the Church of England exploring how God shouldn’t be described as Father or Son. That’s apparently the archaic patriarchy in action.
On Monday’s Morning Edition, NPR host Asma Khalid – a Muslim who wears a hijab to cover her hair in public – began with this: “Why is God so often referred to as a he? That's been a debate among many worshippers who speak gendered languages, like English.”
Has it been a debate among many? Or the woke few?
It’s funny that NPR would beginning by citing a “debate” – because they weren’t having one on NPR. Everyone they lined up was for deconstructing God’s gender. In other words, the word of God says God is a He, but He is not allowed to identify by His chosen pronouns.
ASMA KHALID: A spokesperson for the church says that Christians have recognized that God is neither male nor female since ancient times. Yii-Jan Lin is an associate professor who studies the New Testament at Yale Divinity School.
YII-JAN LIN: There is also the Christian understanding that God is transcendent of human ideas. And so this understands God as beyond human complete understanding of who God is and what God is.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: She says the terms father and he are commonly used when referring to God because of the culture we live in.
LIN: That is just the history of patriarchal society through almost all of history. And so that has just been a part of human constructions of God, which has been dominated by masculine power.
KHALID: In the coming months, the Church of England plans to launch a new project studying the issue of gendered language. Reverend Amy Peeler, the author of Women and the Gender of God [promoted as "A robust theological argument against the assumption that God is male"), says she is not surprised.
AMY PEELER: It has risen to the front of the list of things that need to be addressed, given the cultural moment.
MARTÍNEZ: Church of England currently has no plans to drop the use of male pronouns for God. But some Christians are already using gender-neutral terms for God. Joseph Newton is a 24-year-old non-binary theology student.
JOSEPH NEWTON: I struggle to understand how people want to believe in a God who is exclusive as opposed to inclusive.
KHALID: Newton says no matter what terms we use, God will still be God. But using gender-neutral pronouns could help make some churches feel more inclusive.
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