Don't try this at home, kids!

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Sep 13, 2003

In 1995, the U.S. bishops published a statement called "Walk in the Light: A Pastoral Response to Child Sexual Abuse." Included were "some practical suggestions for developing simple action plans at the local level." My favorite is the following:

*Promote the use of language in parish programs and materials that reflects the equal dignity of women.

See the connection? Neither do I. But it would churlish to hard-time the bishops here. They were trying to bring a religious perspective to the problem, after all, and for many of them gender inclusive language is one of the very few Absolutes of Christian faith. They'd include the same "action plan" if they were writing about migrant workers or monothelitism. Still, it got me wondering: would you want an inclusive language obsessive to take your little boy on a picnic?