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A progressive priest gave a sermon claiming Jesus is transgender, prompting fierce backlash on social media.
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Jesus → sign → media
Father Flourish Klink, a nonbinary and transgender priest with the Episcopal Church, Diocese of New York, serving at Christ & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on the city's Upper West Side, recently made the controversial claim that 'God is nonbinary.
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God → serve → claim
'God is nonbinary, but I'm going to go further than that, and I'm going to say God is actually also trans,' Klink went on in a sermon to parishioners.
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Klink → go → parishioners
According to the priest's website, Klink is 'non-binary trans.
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Klink → accord → website
I like to use they/them pronouns.
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I → like → pronouns
The reverend alluded to their gender identity in the sermon while explaining their evidence for why God is transgender.
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God → allude → evidence
'When we trans people are born, folks assign us a gender based on what they see,' the woke priest said.
'Then when we're old enough, we realize that that wasn't right...
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that → bear → what
When God, as we have established, is nonbinary, was born in human form as our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary said: "Oh look, a baby boy."
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Mary → establish → Christ
'
'God isn't a boy,' Klink went on.
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Klink → go → ?
God was assigned a gender at birth, and later on it became clear that that gender wasn't quite right.
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gender → assign → birth
'
'So if you're gonna deny God is trans, I think you're gonna be denying the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I have some notes about that,' the priest then said in one of the most controversial statements of the sermon.
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priest → go → sermon
Progressive Episcopal Church priest Flourish Klink recently gave a controversial sermon claiming that Jesus is 'nonbinary' and 'trans'
Klink identifies as a nonbinary trans person and said, 'I like to use they/them pronouns' on their website
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I → give → website
A clip of the sermon has gone viral on X, accumulating more than 5.5 million views and sparking outrage in the replies
The priest's evidence for why Jesus's gender 'wasn't quite right' is that he 'didn't live life exactly the way your average first-century Judean man did.'
Klink said that Jesus appears not to have been married, was a teacher and engaged 'with women in ways that were very unusual.'
The priest also said that after Jesus was resurrected, he was 'different' and his disciples did not recognize him for a long time.
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disciples → go → time
Klink conceded that the Bible does not explicitly say what exactly was different about Jesus but offered their own interpretation.
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what → concede → interpretation
'Based on everything else I know about God, I have an idea.
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I → base → idea
I think Jesus was resurrected as Jesus's true self, which is beyond male or female,' Klink said.
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Klink → think → male
'I think Jesus was not only transfigured; I think Jesus transitioned.'
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Jesus → think → ?
A clip of the sermon posted on Wednesday by conservative Christian outlet The Dissenter has gone viral on X, accumulating more than 5.5 million views.
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clip → post → views
In the more than 6,400 replies to the post, the majority of users expressed outrage at Klink's comments, calling the sermon 'heresy' and 'blasphemy.'
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majority → express → sermon
This X user and those below shared their outrage at Klink's sermon
Klink indirectly responded to the backlash in a post on Instagram that included this picture and a caption that said they are sending 'love' to their 'haters'
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they → share → haters
A community note pinned under the clip also quotes a verse from the Bible, Luke 1:30-31, as a counterargument to Klink's claims.
'But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
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you → pin → God
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus,"' the pinned verse said.
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verse → conceive → him
One user in the replies wrote: 'I don't understand how so many Christians just stand by and let this happen?
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this → write → replies
Please, if you are in this church run away and find a new one.
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you → run → one
He is leading you all to hell,' another wrote.
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another → lead → hell
A third chimed in: 'It's really important ppl [sic] realize this is NOT biblical teaching.'
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this → chime → ?
Klink indirectly responded to the backlash in a post on Instagram that said in part: 'One thing social media is really good for is the opportunity to send love to all your haters.
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opportunity → respond → haters
'What a blessing to get to see folks at their worst and know that God loves them anyway,' Klink wrote.
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Klink → get → them
The Daily Mail has reached out to the priest and the Christ & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church for comment.
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Mail → reach → comment
The Aporia
