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Church of England’s first trans priest says ‘God is nonbinary’

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Trans priest Sarah Jones has said that God is “beautifully non-binary” in a commentary on gender and religion.

In an interview with Attitude magazine, the Church of England priest revealed that she has recently started to question whether it’s correct to refer to God as “he”, as many religious denominations do. “I grew up referring to God as ‘he’, but over the years I’ve started to question this,” Sarah Jones said. “The creation story in Genesis, God makes humankind in our image – it’s ‘our’, the word is ‘our’. And what does God make? God makes male and female.”

“If you put that together, I would say that somewhere within the heart of God is not just a ‘he’. God is beyond gender anyway, and I’d like to think that all possibilities, all of our notions of gender are somehow subsumed there and held in God.” She added: “God is not a ‘he’. I don’t suppose God is a ‘she’, either. I think god is beautifully non-binary.”

Reverend Canon Sarah Jones, currently of the St John the Baptist Church in Cardiff, Wales, was ordained by the Church of England some two decades ago, telling the Anglican state church at the time: “‘Look, there’s this medical history that you need to know about.” The cleric told ITV News that “They were fine” with the disclosure, although, as she put it, they were initially “a little bit sort of, ‘Oh, OK, we don’t really know what to do, but give us some time, and we’ll work it out’.”

“And it did take them time, but they did work it out and eventually I was ordained,” Jones recalled. The canon claimed that “There have been some occasions where it’s been made pretty plain to me that I wouldn’t be welcome in a certain post and that people disagreed that I should even be ordained” but that, for the most part, support has been “tremendous” — particularly in Wales.

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: PINK NEWS

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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