The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has developed some inclusive language guidelines to help it proclaim the “good news” in “an increasingly pluralistic context”.
What is the ELCIC’s “good news”, you may be wondering. After plumbing the theological depths of the insights buried in this document, I am compelled to conclude that it’s the fact that the ELCIC has decided to use inclusive language.
For example, whatever you do, don’t refer to God as “He”; it may not upset Him, but it surely will upset the ELCIC:
It is preferable, then, to reduce to a minimum the use of gendered pronouns when referring to God, and to use ‘God’ as the pronoun for God. While this may cause some awkward phrasing, it keeps us mindful of how God transcends human gender. Avoid pronouns like ‘He’, ‘His’, ‘Him’ when referring to God. Consider varied and diverse pronouns as an alternative.
Getting around the inconvenient fact that Jesus was a man is a bit trickier, but it can be done:
In regards to the Second Person of the Trinity, while Jesus’ body was male in gender the incarnation’s significance is God’s connection to our humanity. It is preferable to minimize the use of the male pronouns for the Christ, so as not to connect the incarnation to maleness, but rather use names or titles when referring to the Second Person of the Trinity, e.g., Jesus, Christ, the Messiah, Saviour, companion or kin.
The document contains a helpful glossary of terms to enlighten those of us who hitherto have rested comfortably in a cocoon of indifference to the varieties of sexual deviation being gleefully explored by the ELCIC. Not all are new, of course: for example, promiscuity has been relabelled “polyamory”. It won’t be long before committed polyamorous ménages are pronounced “holy” and worthy of church blessings because promiscuity is now an orientation:
Polyamory (Polya): a term that describes a spectrum of people who have an orientation towards consensual non-monogamous relationships.
Thanks to this document, no one has the excuse of pleading ignorance to the meaning of the “+” in “LGBTQ2+”: it means “unnamed identities”. Anything you can imagine and probably some things you can’t.
LGBTQ2 +: an abbreviation or umbrella terms for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning and Two-spirit peoples. The addition of the + recognizes the diversity of unnamed identities the abbreviation often comes to represent.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church of Canada are in full communion; there are plans to hold joint synods and parishes are combining. Both denominations have the same understanding of Christianity and both are withering away at much the same rate.
As the trend to merge these two offerings of Plato’s Retreat re-imagined accelerates, I look forward to enjoying the spectacle of precision synchronised withering.
