by Mike Judge, Evangelical Times
The Green Party has issued guidance on inclusive language which says its members shouldn’t use the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’. Instead, they suggest the gender-neutral words ‘parents’ or ‘carers’ should be used. Oh good grief! When will this liberal progressive vandalism of the English language end? Ironically, they also say the words, ‘nutters’ and ‘lunatics’ are not acceptable. Don’t tempt me.
Additionally, the word ‘elderly’ is also a no-no for Green Party members. So too is the phrase ‘black, Asian and minority ethnic’ (Bame). The same applies to ‘homosexual’ and ‘transsexual’ – the latter because it ‘does not encompass non-binary people’. Likewise, ‘sexual preference’ is labelled as ‘unacceptable’ because it ‘implies that attraction is a choice and should be avoided’.
I accept that we need to be careful with our words. Being kind and polite should be characteristic of any genuine Christian. But not at the expense of truth or common sense. We must be free to use words that accurately describe who and what we are talking about. I don’t want to live in a society where a quick call to the linguistics hotline will land me in trouble with the language police.