Language and the Feminist Agenda

WATCH (Women and the Church) a radical liberal and feminist group is presently charting their next moves after their victory in the CofE Synod where the consecration of female bishops was approved. This from the talking points on their website...

B2 Language: our continued use of masculine language for people and God is a stumbling block for many

• Language is a powerful tool of communication; it shapes the way people think of themselves, the world and God. There has never been a time in the English language when words like “he” were unambiguously generic. There was an attempt to establish this by law for certain documents in the 19th century – a sure sign that it was not the case in society at large or else why legislate for it?
• We know that God is beyond gender, but continual use of solely masculine images and pronouns for God suggest to many that, really, God is male
• If God is always referred to as Father or as “he”, then both women and men may infer that men are more like God in an essential way (their sex) than women are. This reinforces the historical view of women as the lesser sex, and needs to be challenged. It also impoverishes our understanding of God with implications for the way Christians relate both to God and to one another
• Men and women are both made in God’s image. The Church has been ambivalent about this down the ages, arguing over whether women have souls, or whether they are really “faulty” men
• Many bibles, hymns and prayers continue to use “he” to mean “he or she”, “brothers” to mean “brothers and sisters” and “mankind” for “humankind”. This is offensive to many, both women and men. If men are always named as the norm, many women of all ages feel inferior, invisible and even alienated from the Church
• Having women as bishops will to continue to raise the issue of language and challenge current usage

Hat tip to a comment by TACit @ T-19