Methodist Church issues guidance discouraging use of terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’
By Jon Brown, Christian Post.
The Methodist Church in Great Britain released an “Inclusive Language Guide” this month advising Methodists to avoid using gendered terms such as “husband” and “wife” because such allegedly assumes what is not “the reality for many people.”
“As Christians, we need to have the courage for conversations that can sometimes be difficult, to recognize that we sometimes exclude people, to listen with humility, to repent of any hurtful language and to take care with how we listen and what we say or write, in the Spirit of Christ,” says the guidance, which will be updated every six months.
The guidance offered as a general principle the idea that there is “infinite variety in the way that God’s creation is expressed in human life,” and offered “husband” and “wife” as examples of terminology that “may sound inoffensive but it makes assumptions about a family or personal life that is not the reality for many people.”
The guidance offered the words “parent,” “partner,” “child,” and “carer” as suitable alternatives.
The guide goes on to list extensive categories of people with whom Methodists are advised to use “sensitive and inclusive” language when addressing minorities that have been “marginalized and/or demonized by common culture.”
The guide urges steering clear of “ageism” by avoiding terms like “old people,” to embrace “anti-racist language” by encouraging use of “ethnicity” instead of “race,” and to avoid language that negatively emphasizes a person’s immigration status or English skills.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric are also discouraged, and the guidance also encourages Methodists to tread carefully with their terminology when addressing “disabled and neurodiverse people” and those with mental illness.
The guide emphasized why its important that the U.K.-based Methodist Church “uses language that is inclusive of LGBT+ people,” and advised using the language an individual prefers, including the pronouns by which they choose to identify.
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