Spelling the word ‘God’ with a gender star. R4 ‘Sunday’ programme.

[EdmontinaDancesWithOphelia]

On the ‘Sunday’ programme at 7.30am

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011bws

There’s talk of putting a after the word ‘God’, indicating a gender-free entity - to counter binary, heteronormative rhetoric and understanding.

Meh. People can do this if they want. That said, im not at all religious so it just doesnt seem controversial to me, but may to some.

Nice idea, but will anyone understand? Like, I have A*s in some of my GCSEs, but none of them every had a gender identity in the first place.

@AgileSlug

Nice idea, but will anyone understand? Like, I have A*s in some of my GCSEs, but none of them every had a gender identity in the first place.

Lol!

..... Lol, do you think they'll reprint the Bible?

What a load of nonsense.

Just listened to the programme.
They (a catholic youth group in Germany) want to put a star to show that the word God doesn’t indicate gender? That seems to highlight the idea that God without a star must be male, but as a general term gods can be female anyway - although I appreciate they are talking specifically about the Christian God.
But the bible refers to God as he, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t that rather overrule any star? I mean, if you don’t like the assumption God is male, your issue is surely with the bible where God is written as male. People don’t assume the Christian God’s sex do they, he’s written as “He”. But sure, if they think the image of god as male is what puts people off Christianity, and they really think “God*” will change that, why not.

But I’ll add that I’m not remotely religious, so don’t really care.

I suppose at least they're thinking about God. As a riddled old atheist I'm still glad to see young people engaging with big questions.

God is a man in the Bible

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good"

When I did my theology degree in the early 1980s one feminist peer of mine always referred to God at s/he. In tutorials this was read as 'she'.

Thanks for summarising, SickAndTiredAgain. I could only give the programme half my attention, so may need to listen again.

I am not religious, but I care about language and intent and reframing a narrative. I don’t know what to think about this.

Doctor Who was written as male, but the most recent was female.

I don't see why it can't be the same for major characters in other works of fiction.

Wouldn’t it just make God look extra special?

I don’t think he needs any more credit. And the whole non binary think seems a bit irrelevant to an imaginary construct.

We had a school chaplain who, 20+ years ago, would love occasionally refer to God as ‘she’. You could feel waves of silent righteousness ripple through the church. It was fab.

Never heard of a gender star before.

Just googled it and apparently it first started in Germany.

@Caramellatteplease

God is a man in the Bible

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good"

This is the contested issue, yes.

Stuff like this makes me irritable. As a Christian, you either believe the scriptures or you don't, and the fact that God is a 'he' is pretty fundamental as in Genesis it says he made Adam in his own image. Whilst there is an argument that some things are lost in the multiple translations from the original language, and some are inclusions from the culture of the time, that isn't one of them!

I wish people would stop appropriating Christianity - if you don't believe what's in the bible, develop your own sodding religion instead of twisting ours!

@FluffyBooBoo

Doctor Who was written as male, but the most recent was female.

I don't see why it can't be the same for major characters in other works of fiction.

Ooh edgy, you.

Fact is, god is male in the English translations of the Bible. There was not a gender neutral way of referring to him/her/it. But the topic has been discussed for hundreds of years and I think god is generally regarded as neither male nor female by people that study the subject.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32960507

Technically the Abrahamic god is sexless regardless of terminology as if it existed it produces neither large or small gametes. The gods in other parthenons reproduce sexually and some are child bearing so if they had species they could be regarded as having a sex if they actually existed.

People have been engaging with the idea of god as female or neither/both for ages now

I see they've come for the easiest religion. This should be interesting and wonder where they'll go next.

So what about the whole “God the Father and Jesus the Son”?

Personally I would prefer the word "god" to always be written in inverted commas, withe a rolling your eyes emoji to follow.

Germans marking people entities with a star has some weird precedents

Saisong- good point!

@Esspee

Personally I would prefer the word "god" to always be written in inverted commas, withe a rolling your eyes emoji to follow.

🙄

Yes. Your "post" deserves one.

Most people would not have any clue whatsoever what that means. They’d just think “oo there’s an emoji”.