Archbishop of York: ‘Our Father’ is problematic for abused children
Referring to God as Father can be “problematic” for people who grew up with abusive parents, the Archbishop of York has said.
In a speech to the Church of England’s General Synod, in York on Friday, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell said that Christians should make more effort to set aside their differences and treat each other as “sisters and brothers”, noting that they are all part of the same family with God as a shared father figure.
Referring to the Lord’s Prayer, which starts with the words “Our Father”, Cottrell said: “If this God to whom we pray is ‘father’ — and yes, I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life — then those of us who say this prayer together, whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, even if we determinedly face away from each other only turning round in order to put a knife in the back of the person standing behind us, are sisters and brothers, family members, the household of God.”
Cottrell went on to say that divisions between Christians, including between different denominations, were harmful, noting: “At our peril do we underestimate the terrible damage our visible disunity does to our proclamation of the Gospel.”
It is the latest reference from church leaders to concerns around the use of exclusively male terms to refer to God.
Canon Dr Chris Sugden, a former synod member, said that the Bible cited Jesus saying: “When you pray, you say ‘Our Father’. Is the Archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? I can’t believe he is doing that consciously, but that’s the impression it gives. If people have had a difficult relationship with their human fathers, then the option open to them is to say you can rediscover the true nature of fatherhood through Christ.”……
Kaya Burgess, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Saturday July 08 2023,
Read the Times here
See also the Guardian report here
After Cottrell’s speech, Canon Dr Chris Sugden, chair of the conservative Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible Jesus urged people to pray to “our father”.He said: “Is the archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong, or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.”
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