The Swedish Church makes Jesus Christ gender-neutral

Hen is a gender-neutral personal pronoun in Swedish, intended as an alternative to the gender-specific hon (she) and han (he).Ahead of Christmas Eve, the Swedish Church in Västerås put an advertisement in one of the local newspapers to invite to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God.But in the ad, Jesus was called “hen” – something that caused many to rage.”We did not want to decide on the sex of the little child right away,” says vicar Susann Senter, who explains that the decision is partly due to the Church’s equal treatment program.Under the “Newborn” section, residents were welcomed to celebrate Jesus’ birth by gathering at the Christmas crib, have mass and listen to Christmas music:”Welcome Jesus! On Christmas Day, December 25, Jesus was born, a long-awaited child. Hen was born when the happy parents Mary and Joseph were traveling,” said the advertisement.Susann Senter says to Expressen that the entire Swedish church in Västerås has worked intensively with a gender equality program recently:

 

Source: The Swedish Church makes Jesus Christ gender-neutral