Evangelist Franklin Graham has called out The Methodist Church of Great Britain for trying to “edit what the Word of God says” to avoid “what might offend people.”
Graham’s strong statement came after the church released an “Inclusive Language Guide” advising its leaders to avoid using gender terms such as “husband” and “wife” because it is not “the reality for many people” and instead use “neutral” words like “parent,” “partner,” and “carer.”
The denomination also called leaders to repent for hurtful language.Â
“Part of the work of being a justice-seeking Church is about recognizing and acknowledging that harm has been done to marginalized groups in the past, not just by wider society but at times by the Church itself, and that it is the Church’s responsibility to make amends for this,” the guidance reads. “It is crucial for our communications to be sensitive and inclusive because, for such a long time, some groups have been marginalized and/or demonized by common culture.”
The guidance, which will be updated every six months, also suggests that leaders use inclusive language when addressing their congregations. Instead of using terms like “men” and “women” they were encouraged to use less offensive language.Â
“Try gender-neutral language such
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