The Church of Sweden, Europe's largest Lutheran denomination, recently published an open letter titled "Personal Letter to You Who are Trans" on the Västerås diocese's official website. In it, the church makes a bold declaration that it, too, is "trans," just like some of the trans-identifying people who serve and attend the church. The letter was signed by an array of priests, deacons, church staff, and other individuals.
"We write to you from a church that is also trans. A church is made up of people. People are different. We have confirmees, employees, churchwardens, elected representatives, non-profits, and other parishioners who define themselves as trans people," the open letter read in Swedish, as per CBN News. "The church also consists of trans people. Therefore, the church could be described as trans."
According to RT, the open letter by the Church of Sweden, Europe's largest Lutheran denomination, declared that it could no longer stay silent as media outlets, "radical right-wing Christian groups," and "trans-excluding" feminists conspire to diminish the rights of transgender individuals. They also compared the plight of transgender people to that of a slave girl who was banished to the desert by abusive masters, a story that was recounted in the Bible.
The letter was written by six church members, of which four were priests. It earned almost a thousand signatures from other priests, deacons, and other individuals affiliated with the Church of Sweden. In the letter, Europe's largest Lutheran denomination condemned "trans-excluding" feminists who are fighting against biological men participating in women's sports and accessing women's public facilities such as changing rooms.
"This contributes to the normalization of trans hate," the Church of Sweden argued. "We believe in a church and a God who welcome people beyond power, national boundaries, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex, and gender identity."
This is not the first time Europe's largest Lutheran denomination, which has six million members and counting, took the "woke" ideology and applied it to its ministry. In 2017, The Guardian reported that the Church of Sweden decided to encourage its clergy to "use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity" and refrain from using the masculine terms "he" and "Lord" and instead use "God."
The Swedish national Evangelical Lutheran church set out to update its 31-year-old handbook that outlined how services should be conducted in terms of the language, liturgy, hymns, and other communication used. The change was met with major backlash. Christer Pahlmblad of Sweden's Lund University told a Denmark newspaper that the change was "undermining the doctrine of the Trinity and the community with the other Christian churches."
Archbishop Antje Jackelén, a female head of a former state church in Uppsala, argued that discussions on using non-gender specific language in the church had been on the table as early as 1986. She argued, "Theologically, for instance, we know that God is beyond our gender determinations, God is not human."
A quick look at the Bible, however, contradicts what they say about God and what He thinks of genders. Genesis 1:27, for example, simply indicates that God is a "He" and that He created only two sexes: biologically male and biologically female.
"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27 NKJV)
