Bishops tell Christians to stop referring to God as a 'He'

The Telegraph newspaper reports that bishops of the Church of England want people to use more gender-inclusive language for God.

Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, the Church of England's first female diocesan bishop, explains the need to stop this popular practice.

In the Gloucester bishop's words, "I don't want young girls or young boys to hear us constantly refer to God as he. 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, so I am very hot about saying can we always look at what we are communicating."

Revd Sally Hitchener, an Anglican chaplain at Brunel University, supports this call noting it is "heretical" to say that God is male. She added that the Church of England is working hard to "emphasize the feminine nature of God."

The Rt Revd Dr. Jo Bailey Wells, bishop of Dorking, also said that she is not a fan of using the male language in reference to God.

"When I lead prayers or preach, I try to get around the problem by using both male and female imagery, and also by avoiding the need to say 'his' or 'him' too often," she said.

ALSO READ: Dear Nigerian Pastors, stop portraying God as a scary monster

Is God a man or woman?

This call by Church of England bishops follows a study that discovered that one in every 100 British Christians believe that God is a woman.

According to statistics published by a UK-based research group known as YouGov, female believers are more likely (41-per-cent) to think God is male than male Christians (30-per-cent).

The study also found that 41 percent say God has no human gender while nineteen percent are unsure about God's gender.

The Church of Sweden uses gender-neutral language for God ece-auto-gen

Between Catholics and Protestants, the study discovered that 47-per-cent of Catholics think of God as a man compared to Protestants (33-per-cent).

Breaking down the research, YouGov said: "This… is perhaps ironic, as The Catechism of the Catholic Church #239, as laid down by Pope John Paul II in 1992, specifically states that 'God is neither man nor woman: he is God'.

"The vast majority of British Protestants follow the Church of England, which seems to still consider God to be male, although a movement within the Church called for God to be referred to as female in 2015.

"Other, smaller, Protestant denominations, such as Methodists and the United Reform Church, have previously introduced a more gender-inclusive language for God."