Yeah, the prayer by James Kirk was the main thing to pop out at me. Mostly because I was trying to remember which episode it was on Star Trek in which he prayed at all.
Gender neutralization makes very little sense to me. But that is probably because I have always been comfortable with the idea that (a.) women were not considered on the same level as men in most of the ancient cultures, (b.) women were not--and in some cases are not--really considered on the same level as men in OUR culture (until somewhere between the early 1900's and 1970 or so), and (c.) I have so much love for foreign languages that make TONS more sense than English and that usually have a he/she/it form of various verbs. I have no problem with someone saying "mankind" to be speaking of all humanity. And I take no offense when there is a generic example in which he/his/him are used to cover both male and female (I actually have a bigger problem with she/hers/her are used in the generic example. I don't know, perhaps I am sexist and unaware of it. ;)). I have to admit that, as I am an artist--particularly in the singing, songwriting, poetry, and theatrical realms--that I would feel frustrated and perhaps angry if I had written/preformed a song or scene that people felt the need to edit for content (I am not vulgar, but probably not terribly P.C.). Of course, I get annoyed when the words that are projected onto our screen during the singing part of our worship service don't match what the song-leaders are singing.
"This is a day that the Lord has made." Perhaps it's because of this phraseology, but I find that--if this were the preferred way of using this text--I would be less likely to "rejoice and be glad in it" as I'd be more eager to get to the next day that the Lord had made, hoping it was better than today. Whereas when I hear/read "This is the day that the Lord has made..." I find myself remembering that each day is a gift and that I should enjoy what it holds for me as it is always possible that I won't see the next one. Had it never been quoted to me as "This is a day..." then I might not have thought of this particular argument.
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Date: 2006-11-27 07:42 pm (UTC)Gender neutralization makes very little sense to me. But that is probably because I have always been comfortable with the idea that (a.) women were not considered on the same level as men in most of the ancient cultures, (b.) women were not--and in some cases are not--really considered on the same level as men in OUR culture (until somewhere between the early 1900's and 1970 or so), and (c.) I have so much love for foreign languages that make TONS more sense than English and that usually have a he/she/it form of various verbs. I have no problem with someone saying "mankind" to be speaking of all humanity. And I take no offense when there is a generic example in which he/his/him are used to cover both male and female (I actually have a bigger problem with she/hers/her are used in the generic example. I don't know, perhaps I am sexist and unaware of it. ;)).
I have to admit that, as I am an artist--particularly in the singing, songwriting, poetry, and theatrical realms--that I would feel frustrated and perhaps angry if I had written/preformed a song or scene that people felt the need to edit for content (I am not vulgar, but probably not terribly P.C.).
Of course, I get annoyed when the words that are projected onto our screen during the singing part of our worship service don't match what the song-leaders are singing.
"This is a day that the Lord has made."
Perhaps it's because of this phraseology, but I find that--if this were the preferred way of using this text--I would be less likely to "rejoice and be glad in it" as I'd be more eager to get to the next day that the Lord had made, hoping it was better than today. Whereas when I hear/read "This is the day that the Lord has made..." I find myself remembering that each day is a gift and that I should enjoy what it holds for me as it is always possible that I won't see the next one. Had it never been quoted to me as "This is a day..." then I might not have thought of this particular argument.