The first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords thinks we need to talk about the gender of God

A woman of the cloth?

Indeed - and on Monday Rev Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, becomes the first female bishop to sit in the House of Lords.

She will be introduced as one of Parliament's 26 Lords Spiritual by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.

That's a score for gender equality.

Bishop Treweek's views on that subject go to the very top: she's spoken about the traditional assumption that God takes the form of a man.

"God is not to be seen as male. God is God," she said. Instead of using "He" or less commonly "She" to describe God, the Right Reverend said she prefers to use the word "God".

Seems fair enough.

But she admits many churchgoers are likely to disagree. "I am not in the business of wanting to offend anyone but I do want to gently challenge people," she told The Observer.

Is it an important distinction?

The former speech and language therapist believes so. She says the words used in liturgy are "very powerful in shaping people's views and shaping our culture".

Does she consider herself a feminist?

"It's a word that's heavily loaded," she said. "If it means I believe that men and women were created by God as equal but different, then yes I'm a feminist.

"But if it means women wanting to be men - sometimes that's a slight feeling of being loud and domineering - I would reject that."

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