Church of England hasn’t stopped use of male pronouns for God

CLAIM: The Church of England will stop using male pronouns for God and will drop the phrase “our Father” from the Lord’s Prayer.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The church has been in ongoing discussions about using gender-neutral language in written services, and recently said it is launching a new project on the matter in the spring. But there are no current plans to abolish the use of masculine pronouns and language for God, the church told The Associated Press in a statement.

THE FACTS: The Church of England’s governing body, the General Synod, voted Thursday to allow priests to bless same-sex couples and apologized for the church’s past treatment of LGBTQ people. But some posts spreading on social media are misrepresenting the church’s inclusivity efforts thus far.

One widespread post on Instagram shows a screenshot of a headline reading, “Church of England embraces a ‘Gender Neutral God’ Will stop using male pronouns and referring to God in prayers, Will drop the phrase ‘our Father’ from the Lord’s Prayer.”

But the church has made no such decision. Instead, the headline misrepresents news stories about a plan to launch a new effort in the spring to look at gendered language in the church. The actual blog post from which the headline was taken only says the move “may suggest” priests will be able to stop using “He” and “Him” in relation to God.

“There are absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise currently authorized liturgies and no such changes could be made without extensive legislation,” the church said in a statement to the AP.

The news emerged out of a question-and-answer period about church policies that took place as part of the General Synod meeting.

During the Q&A, a priest, Rev. Joanna Stobart, asked a group of church officials to give an update on how the church could “provide more options for those who wish to use authorized liturgy and speak of God in a non-gendered way,” according to a readout of the session.

In response, Rev. Michael Ipgravea, a bishop working on the committee looking into neutral language, said the church has “been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years,” according to the readout.

But he added that a new “project on gendered language” would look into the issue in spring, in consultation with a second committee.

Neither party said the church would or should ban masculine terms like “Our Father.”

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.