Church of Sweden backing gender-neutral language when describing God

The Church of Sweden has urged its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms like "Lord" and "He" in favour of the less specific "God".

The move is one of several taken by the national Evangelical Lutheran church in updating a 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted in terms of language, liturgy, hymns and other aspects.