Cons Of Inclusive Language

The most important point or matter I’ve learned about Christian theology that I knew too little or nothing about is inclusive language. I was raised to see the pros and cons of both sides of the situation. Growing up in a semi-conservative church that is open and loving to everyone, yet the congregation is predominantly of one color, we always referred to God in the male pronoun. The idea of even bringing up “God as a female” or “God is no gender” to my congregation brings a sense of great fear. In this essay, I will propose the benefits of using inclusive language within the church. The working definition I will use for this paper is, “language that avoids the use of certain expressions or words that might be considered to exclude particular groups of people, especially gender-specific words, such as "man", "mankind", and masculine pronouns, the use of which might be considered to exclude women”.

The idea of inclusive language was presented to the church in the late 20th century. The idea of inclusive language goes beyond religion, it can even be in the realms of social justice. The pros for inclusive language are quite interesting. The biggest pro in this ideology in the empowerment of women. In general, God has always been used in the masculine imagery. By doing this, congregations are taking away the femininity of God. God also has qualities that are stereotypically looked at as “feminine”. God is also looked at as a nurturer, a provider of love, and someone who can fix things that we as children of God, cannot. There is a huge number of individuals that would say these attributes most align with the