Fr. Mark Hodges at LifeSiteNews reported on the latest religious innovation in Washington, DC. The Episcopal church in the diocese of Washington quickly passed a resolution at the end of January to stop using "gendered language for God" at the Diocese's 123rd Convention.
The resolution stated: “If revision of the Book of Common Prayer is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for God.”
“Over the centuries our language and our understanding of God has continued to change and adapt,” the drafters of the resolution stated. The drafters said that referring to God using masculine pronouns is to "limit our understanding of God."
"By expanding our language for God, we will expand our image of God and the nature of God," they stated.
When Episcopalians “expand the nature of God,” you would think that might deserve a write-up in the newspaper. But The Washington Post somehow skipped right over this local victory for “non-binary imagery.”
The joke on Twitter was "So everyone gets to choose their personal pronouns now, except for God." The Washington Times published a column on the vote by R. Emmett Tyrrell.
This theological resolution was more dramatic than the usual Episcopalian mandates. They also passed a resolution to insure all their churches observe all the new commandments of “gender identity and expression.”
The resolution called on diocese to “encourage all parishes to remove all obstacles to full participation in congregational life by making all gender-specific facilities and activities fully accessible, regardless of gender identity and expression.”
"Fixed boundaries of gender identity are being challenged and churches need to respond. This resolution is a clear response to the systematic oppression and violence that transgender people experience on a daily basis," the resolution drafters stated.
