United Methodist LGBT advocacy group calls God ‘she’ in email

Michie · Apr 29, 2025

A theologically progressive LGBT advocacy organization centered on changing The United Methodist Church's stance on sexual ethics recently sent an email using the female pronoun "she" to refer to God.

Reconciling Ministries Network sent an email to supporters last Wednesday commemorating the first anniversary of when the UMC General Conference voted to remove its ban on same-sex unionsand the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.

"We wish we could say that this was an ending — a happily ever after for LGBTQ+ folks in our Church. To be clear: what we did together at General Conference was ground-breaking. And we did it because you showed up," stated the email.

Continued below.

United Methodist LGBT advocacy group calls God ‘she’ in email

A theologically progressive LGBT advocacy organization centered on changing The United Methodist Church s stance on sexual ethics recently sent an email using the female pronoun she to refer to God

www.christianpost.com

jas3 · Apr 29, 2025

It's sad to see the continued decay of the UMC.

RileyG · Wednesday at 2:49 PM

I wonder what John & Charles Wesley would think...?

SavedByGrace3 · Saturday at 1:09 AM

Run from every "church" that pushes this stuff. They are the apostasy and the harlot that sits on the beast. RUN from them!

St_Worm2 · Saturday at 1:35 AM

Michie said:
A theologically progressive LGBT advocacy organization centered on changing The United Methodist Church's stance on sexual ethics recently sent an email using the female pronoun "she" to refer to God.

Hi Michie, you know, we live in a world where many folks become extremely angry when someone uses a different pronoun than the one/ones that they've chosen for themselves (even if a person does so unintentionally).

This is likely true of some of the members of the aforementioned advocacy group who, for some reason, believe that God (who has CLEARLY defined His pronouns for us) doesn't deserve the same treatment and respect that they insist upon for themselves in regard to His pronoun choices.

God bless you!!

--David

St_Worm2 · Saturday at 1:51 AM

SavedByGrace3 said:
Run from every "church" that pushes this stuff. They are the apostasy and the harlot that sits on the beast. RUN from them!

Hello SavedByGrace3, that's what I did, in point of fact. I was with the UMC's sister denomination (in regard to this kind of progressive theology), the PCUSA, and even though my local church was EXTREMELY conservative, what was going on at the denominational level became too much for me. The writing was on the wall, and this was back in the 90's (when my wife and I made the decision to leave).

It was a tough decision, but we knew it had to be done.

God bless you!!

--David

RileyG · Saturday at 5:37 PM

SavedByGrace3 said:
Run from every "church" that pushes this stuff. They are the apostasy and the harlot that sits on the beast. RUN from them!

Love the sinner, hate the sin. Period.

FireDragon76 · Sunday at 10:51 PM

In many languages, the Christian or monotheistic concept of God has no specific gender.

Also, if women are made in God's image, what does that imply about God's gender exactly?

In some early Syriac biblical texts, the Holy Spirit is referred to with the pronoun "she", because the Hebrew and Aramaic word for spirit, ruah, is feminine.

RileyG · 2025-05-05T14:39:39-0500

FireDragon76 said:
In many languages, the Christian or monotheistic concept of God has no specific gender.

Also, if women are made in God's image, what does that imply about God's gender exactly?

In some early Syriac biblical texts, the Holy Spirit is referred to with the pronoun "she", because the Hebrew and Aramaic word for spirit, ruah, is feminine.

That’s entirely fair, since the Father and the Holy Spirit do not have a physical body. I think it was St. Hildegard who called the Father “God, our loving Mother.”

FireDragon76 · 2025-05-05T14:51:41-0500

RileyG said:
That’s entirely fair, since the Father and the Holy Spirit do not have a physical body. I think it was St. Hildegard who called the Father “God, our loving Mother.”

Several Christian mystics did this. Julian of Norwich comes to mind, who describes God's love as "motherly".

I'm definitely sympathetic to some concerns around inclusive language, but it has more to do with the programmatic and top-down approach used in thinking about it, that denies a positive role for tradition. I really appreciate some of the ELCA's handling of the issue ,which preserves alot more theological integrity while exploring new ways of thinking about God that are consistent with the tradition.

RileyG · 2025-05-05T14:57:28-0500

FireDragon76 said:
Several Christian mystics did this. Julian of Norwich comes to mind, who describes God's love as "motherly".

I'm definitely sympathetic to some concerns around inclusive language, but it has more to do with the programmatic and top-down approach used in thinking about it, that denies a positive role for tradition. I really appreciate some of the ELCA's handling of the issue ,which preserves alot more theological integrity while exploring new ways of thinking about God that are consistent with the tradition.

Yes! Julian of Norwich also comes to mind! Maybe I was thinking of her? I don’t recall.

FireDragon76 · 2025-05-05T21:53:42-0500

RileyG said:
Yes! Julian of Norwich also comes to mind! Maybe I was thinking of her? I don’t recall.

I have read her book, it's worth reading if you like mystical literature. It's actually readable for modern, educated readers, since she wrote in early modern English. She had a very friendly, intimate style to her writing.

We are lucky to have Julian of Norwich's book at all. Many of them were thrown out or burned during the English reformation, where some regarded her as a witch, and her books were not rediscovered until the 20th century. I think it was the English Anglican mystic and author, Evelyn Underwood, who brought her work to light.

Hildegard was also suppressed, for similar reasons. Women as theologians and mystics were treated with alot of suspicion at best, in the Latin and Protestant churches.

The Russian philosopher and theologian Vladimir Solovyov had three mystical visions of a woman he identified as Wisdom. Other Russian theologians, known as Sophianists, theorized that Wisdom was a feminine aspect of God, or a divine, feminine image of the totality of creation.

In Jewish mysticism, God does have a feminine aspect, which is one reason that in many Jewish synagogues, during the Aaronic blessing, the men close their eyes because the divine presence (Shekinakh, f. literally "settling", ) is being invoked through raised hands (and incidentally, where we get the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, since Leonard Nemoy was a Reformed Jew. The hand gesture represents the Hebrew letter shem). In many forms of Hinduism, it is also understood that God has a feminine aspect, represented through a divine consort, which represents the immanent aspect of the Divine, similar to Judaism.

RileyG · 2025-05-05T22:36:02-0500

FireDragon76 said:
I have read her book, it's worth reading if you like mystical literature. It's actually readable for modern, educated readers, since she wrote in early modern English. She had a very friendly, intimate style to her writing.

We are lucky to have Julian of Norwich's book at all. Many of them were thrown out or burned during the English reformation, where some regarded her as a witch, and her books were not rediscovered until the 20th century. I think it was the English Anglican mystic and author, Evelyn Underwood, who brought her work to light.

Hildegard was also suppressed, for similar reasons. Women as theologians and mystics were treated with alot of suspicion at best, in the Latin and Protestant churches.

The Russian philosopher and theologian Vladimir Solovyov had three mystical visions of a woman he identified as Wisdom. Other Russian theologians, known as Sophianists, theorized that Wisdom was a feminine aspect of God, or a divine, feminine image of the totality of creation.

In Jewish mysticism, God does have a feminine aspect, which is one reason that in many Jewish synagogues, during the Aaronic blessing, the men close their eyes because the divine presence (Shekinakh, f. literally "settling", ) is being invoked through raised hands (and incidentally, where we get the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, since Leonard Nemoy was a Reformed Jew. The hand gesture represents the Hebrew letter shem). In many forms of Hinduism, it is also understood that God has a feminine aspect, represented through a divine consort, which represents the immanent aspect of the Divine, similar to Judaism.

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing

Ignatius the Kiwi · 2025-05-06T01:48:12-0500

FireDragon76 said:
I have read her book, it's worth reading if you like mystical literature. It's actually readable for modern, educated readers, since she wrote in early modern English. She had a very friendly, intimate style to her writing.

We are lucky to have Julian of Norwich's book at all. Many of them were thrown out or burned during the English reformation, where some regarded her as a witch, and her books were not rediscovered until the 20th century. I think it was the English Anglican mystic and author, Evelyn Underwood, who brought her work to light.

Hildegard was also suppressed, for similar reasons. Women as theologians and mystics were treated with alot of suspicion at best, in the Latin and Protestant churches.

The Russian philosopher and theologian Vladimir Solovyov had three mystical visions of a woman he identified as Wisdom. Other Russian theologians, known as Sophianists, theorized that Wisdom was a feminine aspect of God, or a divine, feminine image of the totality of creation.

In Jewish mysticism, God does have a feminine aspect, which is one reason that in many Jewish synagogues, during the Aaronic blessing, the men close their eyes because the divine presence (Shekinakh, f. literally "settling", ) is being invoked through raised hands (and incidentally, where we get the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, since Leonard Nemoy was a Reformed Jew. The hand gesture represents the Hebrew letter shem). In many forms of Hinduism, it is also understood that God has a feminine aspect, represented through a divine consort, which represents the immanent aspect of the Divine, similar to Judaism.

A very long series of words to justify heyerodoxy and referring to God as a Goddess. Would you have us address Jesus as she/her as well?

Ignatius the Kiwi · 2025-05-06T01:49:15-0500

FireDragon76 said:
Several Christian mystics did this. Julian of Norwich comes to mind, who describes God's love as "motherly".

I'm definitely sympathetic to some concerns around inclusive language, but it has more to do with the programmatic and top-down approach used in thinking about it, that denies a positive role for tradition. I really appreciate some of the ELCA's handling of the issue ,which preserves alot more theological integrity while exploring new ways of thinking about God that are consistent with the tradition.

The same ELCA which doesn't insist on any particular Christian belief?

jmldn2 · 2025-05-06T16:24:36-0500

Michie said:
A theologically progressive LGBT advocacy organization centered on changing The United Methodist Church's stance on sexual ethics recently sent an email using the female pronoun "she" to refer to God.

Reconciling Ministries Network sent an email to supporters last Wednesday commemorating the first anniversary of when the UMC General Conference voted to remove its ban on same-sex unionsand the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.

"We wish we could say that this was an ending — a happily ever after for LGBTQ+ folks in our Church. To be clear: what we did together at General Conference was ground-breaking. And we did it because you showed up," stated the email.

Continued below.

United Methodist LGBT advocacy group calls God ‘she’ in email

A theologically progressive LGBT advocacy organization centered on changing The United Methodist Church s stance on sexual ethics recently sent an email using the female pronoun she to refer to God

www.christianpost.com

What the LGBT is doing to the United Methodist Denomination is exactly why I no longer attend that church.

jmldn2 · 2025-05-06T16:26:17-0500

Ignatius the Kiwi said:
A very long series of words to justify heyerodoxy and referring to God as a Goddess. Would you have us address Jesus as she/her as well?

What is being done to the Lord Almighty and His Word is sad, evil and will be rewarded by the Father Himself.

United Methodist LGBT advocacy group calls God ‘she’ in email

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