London: The Church of England is being pressured by liberal Christians to remove gendered references to God from the Bible and worship services, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday. They contend that it is a "theological misreading" to refer to God as a man.

The debate was raised this week during a meeting of the General Synod, the body that makes laws for the Church. The Liturgical Commission was questioned by the Reverend Joanna Stobart of Bath and Wells, according to the Telegraph, about what was being done "to develop more inclusive language in our authorised liturgy."

Stobart wished there were more ways to "speak of God in a non-gendered way" and more prayers that avoided using "male pronouns" to address God.

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The Liturgical Commission is in charge of defining the procedures for holding church services, including the language that will be employed. The commission has "been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years," the Bishop of Litchfield, its vice-chairman, told Stobart, adding that it would discuss the issue with the Faith and Order Commission this spring.

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The Synod, where there is fierce opposition, would need to unanimously approve any changes to the Church's liturgy.

The Rev. Ian Paul, a member of the Church's Archbishop's Council, responded to Stobart's proposal by saying that the fact that God is called "Father" cannot be replaced by "Mother" without changing meaning or gender-neutralized to "Parent" without loss of meaning.

He continued, "Fathers and mothers relate to their offspring in different ways; they are not interchangeable. In a significant way, the Liturgical Commission will be moving the Church's doctrine away from its foundation in the Scriptures if they attempt to change this.

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The Church of England is fundamentally different from the Catholic Church in a number of ways, including its devolution of more power to specific bishops and ministers and refusal to acknowledge the Pope as the one designated as the "Vicar of Christ." So, despite Vatican directives prohibiting Catholic priests from granting blessings to same-sex unions, the Church of England's General Synod is currently preparing for a contentious vote on the subject this week.

While the Catholic and Anglican churches define God as neither a man nor a woman in their catechisms, they both refer to him as a man in their liturgies.