God will no longer be referred to as ‘he’ and ‘Lord’ because that’s simply not ‘inclusive’ in the national Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden. ‘God’ can still be used. The move was made by the head of the church, Archbishop Antje Jackelén.
The change was made as they update their 31-year old handbook. There are 6.1 million baptized members in the country of 10 million. In 1970, 95% of the country was a member of the church.
Jackelén told Sweden’s TT news agency that a more inclusive language had been discussed as early as the 1986 conference.
“Theologically, for instance, we know that God is beyond our gender determinations, God is not human,” Jackelén said.
Last year Swedish lesbian bishop Eva Brune proposed removing crosses and Christian symbols from her church to make it more inclusive. She also offered to put in an Islamic prayer mat.
Sweden has been welcoming refugees not only from Syria and Eritreans who had initially traveled to Italy.
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