Go Beyond God's Gender

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 16 February 2023 Abrahamic God with All Male Characteristics and Philological Trappings Like the Fundamental Christian Prayer, 'Our Father, Who Art in Heaven' Contributed To Thinking of God with All Macho Attributes and Basic Sanguinary Cruelties A Male Is Endowed With ----- The specifics of the Chirch of England project are unclear. ------- It's indeed heartening to know that the Church of England is seriously considering gender-neutral terms for god. Using he or she for god is the objectification, nay personification, of god. American anthropologist and agnostic Ruth Benedict's 1887-1948) seminal essay “Who created god and decided ITS gender” (originally from 'The Races of Mankind,' 1943) enumerated upon god's gender. She wrote that god, esp. the monotheistic god of all three Semitic faiths was an existential construct by the early men (gender-specific men with no role of women) for mere survival. Our prehistoric ancestors created god in their own image and imposed the male identity on tithe role of predominant gender (read male) in linguistic development of mankind further established god as a male. Abrahamic god with all male characteristics and philological trappings like the fundamental Christian prayer, 'Our father, who art in heaven' contributed to thinking of god with all macho attributes and basic sanguinary cruelties a male is endowed with. Unlike the eastern concept of god as a transcendental spirit without a specific gender, the Semitic god is a distinctly carved out male entity despite claiming that god is formless. So, he/his/him were used and female gender specifications were simply ignored. Ruth would always use IT for god and publishing houses and publications also accepted her way of addressing the imaginary being. Now when the gender differences are fading and ebbing away, it's time for all of us to use gender-neutral terms for god. Never in my life have I used he or she for god and always resorted to calling and writing IT. With the evolution of languages, human mind should also evolve and adapt to new-fangled terms that are not blatantly gender specific. At the same time, start writing god in lower case instead of God in upper case. Many European publications have begun to write god and not God. Indian publications, viz, TOI/DH/The Hindu/NAI etc. have always retained god and never God whenever I've written to them. In fact, I argued in one of my articles in The Hindu, Open Page as to why god must be written in lower case and never in upper case. See my article, ' The Makings Of A Theo-Lingual Conspiracy?, 'June 28, 2016). People in India are so docile and lily-livered that they dare not write god in lower case. Nor do teachers in schools teach the impressionable kids that there can be two ways to write god and both are perfectly alright: God as well as god. How many Indian teachers and lecturers of English are aware of this and write god in lower case? ---- Also Read: Church Of England Explores Gender-Neutral God, Critics Hit Back By Amit Chaturvedi February 10, 2023 The Church of England will look into how to use gender neutral terms to refer to God in prayers. It, however, added there are no plans to abolish current services, according to a report in the BBC. The outlet further said that the issue reflects the growing awareness about the need to be conscious of the changing societal norms. Gender neutrality is an idea that policies, languages and other social institutions should avoid distinguishing roles according to people's sex or gender. As per The Guardian, the church said it would launch a new commission on the matter in the coming months. However, any potential departure from the existing rules would have to be approved by synod, the church's top decision-making body. "After some dialogue between the two commissions in this area, a new joint project on gendered language will begin this spring," said Rt Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield and vice-chair of the liturgical commission responsible for the matter. "In common with other potential changes to authorised liturgical provision, changing the wording and number of authorised forms of absolution would require a full synodical process for approval," he added. He said that the church had been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years. The specifics of the project are unclear, The Guardian report said, giving examples such as what would replace the term Our Father in the Lord's Prayer. Conservative critics have hit back at the suggestion with the Rev Dr Ian Paul telling the Telegraph that they would represent an abandonment of the Church's own doctrine. "The fact that God is called 'Father' can't be substituted by 'Mother' without changing meaning, nor can it be gender-neutralised to 'Parent' without loss of meaning," he said. Source: Church Of England Explores Gender-Neutral God, Critics Hit Back ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/god-gender-philological/d/129118 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism