Posted on 12/31/2023 4:34:52 PM PST by Morgana
The Methodist Church in Great Britain released an "Inclusive Language Guide" this month advising Methodists to avoid using gendered terms such as "husband" and "wife" because such allegedly assumes what is not "the reality for many people."
"As Christians, we need to have the courage for conversations that can sometimes be difficult, to recognize that we sometimes exclude people, to listen with humility, to repent of any hurtful language and to take care with how we listen and what we say or write, in the Spirit of Christ," says the guidance, which will be updated every six months.
The guidance offered as a general principle the idea that there is "infinite variety in the way that God’s creation is expressed in human life," and offered "husband" and "wife" as examples of terminology that "may sound inoffensive but it makes assumptions about a family or personal life that is not the reality for many people."
The guidance offered the words "parent," "partner," "child," and "carer" as suitable alternatives.
The guide goes on to list extensive categories of people with whom Methodists are advised to use "sensitive and inclusive" language when addressing minorities that have been "marginalized and/or demonized by common culture."
The guide urges steering clear of "ageism" by avoiding terms like "old people," to embrace "anti-racist language" by encouraging use of "ethnicity" instead of "race," and to avoid language that negatively emphasizes a person's immigration status or English skills.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric are also discouraged, and the guidance also encourages Methodists to tread carefully with their terminology when addressing "disabled and neurodiverse people" and those with mental illness.
The guide emphasized why its important that the U.K.-based Methodist Church "uses language that is inclusive of LGBT+ people," and advised using the language an individual prefers, including the pronouns by which they choose to identify.
The denomination passed resolutions in 2021 to approve the blessing of same-sex unions and recognize cohabitating couples.
"Using the language that individuals use for themselves shows that we care as a Church and that we affirm them as a child of God," the guidance says.
The guidance concludes by pointing readers to nonprofits that include the left-wing Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Stonewall, an LGBT charity in the U.K. whose guidance found its way into schools throughout the country.
“We are proud of our Inclusive Language Guide," a spokesperson for the denomination told The Christian Post. "It helps the Church hold conversations without making assumptions or inadvertently causing upset. Some find this especially useful when talking with those who may have had a different life experience to their own."
Regarding whether gendered language would still be used in Methodist marriage ceremonies, the spokesperson said: "Couples getting married in a Methodist Church will discuss with the minister how they wish to be referred to during their service. This ensures that the ceremony reflects who they are."
Father Calvin Robinson, who has been outspoken in fighting progressivism in the Church of England, blasted the U.K.-based Methodist Church for its guidance and suggested it's symptomatic of a neo-Marxist attempt to effectively destroy it.
"This is not Christianity," Robinson wrote on X. "It is Critical Theories: 'smash heteronormativity.' It is no longer enough to acknowledge disordered lifestyles. Everything normative and ordered must be demolished for fear of causing offense."
"Critical Theories is neo-Marxism. It is a communist ideology, antithetical to the Christian faith. It is not possible to be a communist *and* a Christian. One must make a choice. Embrace the ways of this trendy yet toxic ideology, or embrace God’s order," he continued, and urged the Methodist Church to "pick one."
What say you Reverend Mother?
Christians are not charged by God with the role of cowering before sinners.
Quite the opposite.
I know what I say, and I’ve said it before...
This is NOT my Grandmother’s Methodist church!
It is my opinion that the moral decline of Great Britain was accelerated in the 60’s, when the acceptance of homosexuality by the people began to be on the rise.
God and Jesus are next...
They did. How unfortunate for them.
What a bunch of Horse Hockey.
Since she’s still UMC, I’ll be surprised if she isn’t fully on board.
I think they went first dude!!!
Can’t make it up
Nor appeasing sinners
I assume we will not be able to tell apart Adam and Eve on the next version of the lesser methodist Bible as dictated to us by the British government . She was a boy, and he was a girl.
just driving more Brits into the hands of the IslamoNazis
A pastor friend of mine says what we need in today’s churches is reformation.
Christ said man and woman, husband and wife.
The Person at the Well.
Jesus saith unto them, Go, call thy partner, and come hither.
The person answered and said, I have no partner. Jesus said unto them, Thou hast well said, I have no partner: For thou hast had five partners; and they whom thou now hast is not thy partner: in that saidst thou truly.
These people are doomed to an eternity of pain and suffering unless they repent.
These sickos are earning very heavy millstones.
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