Church of Sweden decides: God is genderqueer

[ilikeverin]

When I was churchshopping, quite a few of the local mainline Protestant churches have taken at least some steps towards de-gendering references to God, including the church I seem to have settled into.  It's a bit weird to me (I'm with Scott on just about everything he said), but, if it's how they roll, eh.

[BuckeyeNut]

I don't really think humans have any place deciding what gender God is.

Humans made God, so why the Hell not?

[7,052,770]

FF denomination. Paging Pope Francis for a similar declaration.

[J. J.]

Misleading thread title aside (the Church never said God is "genderqueer"), I've believed this for a long time.  A transcendent, omnipotent god has no use for sex or gender and to emphasize God's supposed "male-ness" is to miss the point entirely.  I have always used male pronouns when referring to God for discussion purposes, but to ascribe a literal, physical gender to God is limiting and innapropriately kataphatic (for lack of a more appropriate term).

This. 

I seriously doubt that God has either an x or a Y chromosome. 

[DavidB.]

SWEDEN YAAAAAS

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

God the Father obviously has no gender. While what the Church of Sweden is doing is a change in stylistic norms that people may legitimately disagree with, the only heretics here are the people who are attempting to ascribe a human characteristic to a being that's clearly stated to transcend all human characteristics.

I mean, Mary wasn't impregnated with semen.

[mvd10]

This decision is just stupid and represents the failings of the Church of Sweden, which my great-great grandmother was a proud member of. She would be ashamed of her church.

Half the clergy are imams.

To be totally honest with you, I wouldn't be shocked. The Lutheran Churches in Europe have sadly fallen by the complete wayside. Many clergy in the Netherlands are atheist or agnostic, the church has turned away from its primary function to a social circle.

Dutch Protestant churches lol. I may not like SP/GroenLinks/PvdA but the PKN is the true enemy.

Anyway, I think this is a bit silly. The people who care about this the most probably aren't religious anyway.

[Kingpoleon]

To be totally honest with you, I wouldn't be shocked. The Lutheran Churches in Europe have sadly fallen by the complete wayside. Many clergy in the Netherlands are atheist or agnostic, the church has turned away from its primary function to a social circle.

Yeah and honestly I suspect that's part of the reason (if not maybe the main reason) most mainline Christian churches are collapsing. If people are going to turn to Religion, they want one that actually stands for something and isn't just a social club looking for popularity. Frankly at this point, I think the Catholic and Orthodox churches are the only mainline churches that still do actually look for something deeper than popularity and I think are the only ones with a long term future (and I'm saying this as an Anglican, I'll probably leave it sooner or later for one of the two I mentionned, I actually haven't been to my Anglican church in a couple of years now).

Uh, no.

?

You just tried to get away with insulting all of mainline Protestantism. Do you not know that there is only one Judge and one Lawgiver in spiritual matters? And yet you, in your arrogance, have judged the soul and heart of your neighbor. Who are you to judge your neighbor?