CNI rejects recommendations regarding gender sensitisation

Mumbai, Dec 3 (UNI) The Church of North India (CNI) today announced that it has rejected the new guidelines laid down by its English counterpart, the Church of England (CoE), for its clergy on the issue of domestic violence.

The CNI's refusal to comply with the guidelines has come in the wake of a recent controversial report by the CoE and the passage of Domestic Violence Bill in India.

Both the churches follow similar ideologies and practices in the propogation of Christianity.

The CoE, in its report ''Responding to Domestic Abuse, Guidelines for Pastoral Responsibility'', had laid down the new guidlines and warned that calling God ''He'' could validate ''overbearing and ultimately violent patterns of behaviour.'' It, therefore, suggested that people should move away from viewing God in purely masculine terms.

Interestingly, most of the faiths practised in India view God in masculine terms.

''Domestic violence is fundamentally an abuse of power, and many conceptions of God derived from the Bible and the Christian traditions have portrayed divine power in an unhealthy and potentially oppressive way,'' the guidelines stated.

According to the report, the traditional Christian matrimonial vows, where the husband promises to ''love and cherish his wife till death do us part,'' and the wife in return promises to ''love, cherish and obey her husband,'' had fostered a sense of ownership of the woman by her spouse, thereby leading men to believe that they could use force against women.

The report, while lamenting that the Church had unintentionally reinforced abuse, recommended that from now onwards, whenever the clergy prepares couples for marriage, they should stress that men and women are equal, and that the word ''obey'' be dropped from marriage vows.

However, the CNI has rejected the guidelines, stating that it amounts to changing the basic tenets of the faith.

UNI WD SSS PB RS1845