Mainline Church Eliminates 'Heavenly Father'

One of the most liberal of historic mainline protestant denominations, the United Church of Christ, in its homosexualization and feminization of Christianity, has decided to no longer refer to God as "Heavenly Father" but rather with gender-neutral terminology.

-- From "United Church of Christ goes 'Father'-free in 'updated' bylaws" by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 7/6/11

. . . the UCC isn't "editing" the creed, says the Rev. Bennett Guess, spokesman for the denomination. Guess explained what happened last night in Tampa where the UCC wrapped up its biannual governance meeting.

We are still a Trinitarian denomination. This was not a theological document. It was a restructuring from five boards to one. And in doing this, we dealt with bylaws written decades ago, before the denomination's commitment to using inclusive and expansive imagery for God.

We no longer use exclusively male language to refer to God. We haven't for a long time.

The board-consolidation resolution passed Monday night after several hours of debate on restructuring that has taken six years to accomplish, Guess says. With the change came the edit that replaces "Heavenly Father" with the "Triune God."

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From "'God the Father' banished by mainline denomination" by Bob Unruh, World Net Daily 7/5/11

A report from Eric Anderson on the denomination's website confirmed that delegates to the UCC's "General Synod 28" agreed late Monday to a series of proposed amendments to the constitution and bylaws. The vote was 613 in favor of the changes, 171 against and 10 abstaining.

The changes include a pointed deletion of a reference to God "as heavenly Father," which has been part of Christendom's description of the Trinity for millennia – the three persons of God being the heavenly Father, Christ the Son and Savior, and the Holy Ghost, the counselor and comforter.

Other constitutional changes in the package approved by delegates meeting in Tampa, Fla., over the holiday weekend dealt with issues such as modifications in the church structure, the responsibilities of boards and committees.

Denomination spokeswoman Barb Powell told WND today that the change was made because the reference to "heavenly Father" was too restrictive.

She said some of the denomination's pastors refer to God with terms such as "Creator" and "Father and Mother."

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