Church of England considers using gender-neutral terms for God

The Church of England is considering no longer referring to God as "He," but using gender-neutral terms instead.

The Right Rev. Dr. Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield, will lead a commission overseeing the potential change this spring. He said the church had been "exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years," The Times of London reported.

Many priests are already starting the Lord's Prayer with "Our Father and Mother," instead of simply "Our Father," and refer to God as "they" instead.

"God is not male. Certainly not the white cis male with a beard, sitting on a cloud we seem to reduce and limit God to so often. God is far bigger than a binary sense of gender allows," The Rev. Chantal Noppen said.

The Rev. Ian Paul, a conservative Church of England leader, warned that changing God's pronouns would "move the doctrine of the church" away from the Bible. "The fact that God is called 'Father' can’t be substituted by 'Mother' without changing meaning, nor can it be gender neutralized to ‘Parent’ without loss of meaning," he said.

Archbishop Justin Welby acknowledged criticism that the church is becoming "woke" Monday in an address to the General Synod, the church's legislative body, on Monday. "The church is not called to avoid or to endorse wokery, but to be awake to the Holy Spirit, to show that no division is greater than the unity of our identity in Christ," he said.

A church spokesman said: "There are absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise currently authorized liturgies and no such changes could be made without extensive legislation."