A newly-ordained gay bishop has caused extreme outrage in the Christian community for allegedly declaring that God is a woman.

The Daily Caller reports that Reverend Thomas Brown (who is married to a fellow male priest) was ordained as a bishop of the diocese of Maine in the Episcopal Church on June 22, but used his very first speech to refer to God as "she".

"She is worshipped and glorified. She has spoken through the Prophets," said Brown in his Nicene Creed, a passage written nearly 2,000 years ago that refers to God with only male pronouns.

The Daily Caller also explained that the microphones in the Cathedral of St. Luke (where the ordination occurred) projected the voice of another bishop for the duration of the Nicene, but the microphones switched for Brown's line. It's not clear at this moment in time whether the switch was made intentionally for the line.

Deacon Todd Thomas of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington explained that while he's never heard a bishop use female pronouns to refer to God, individual bishops are free to change the words and phrasing as they please. Deacon Thomas did add, however, that they were encouraged to do so "in conversation" with lay people.

Meanwhile, Bishop Brown describes himself on his résumé as a "servant leader who strives for justice among all people and who continues to address white privilege, dismantle racism, and work for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Body of Christ."

He met his husband Tom Mousin when Mousin was a pastor at the United Methodist Church, and his ordination is the third time that a gay man or woman has been made bishop in the Episcopal Church - after Gene Robinson in 2003 (though he has since divorced his partner Mark Andrew), and Mary Glasspool, who married Becki Sander in 2009, was present at Brown's ordination.

A newly-ordained gay bishop has caused extreme outrage in the Christian community for allegedly declaring that God is a woman.

The Daily Caller reports that Reverend Thomas Brown (who is married to a fellow male priest) was ordained as a bishop of the diocese of Maine in the Episcopal Church on June 22, but used his very first speech to refer to God as "she".

"She is worshipped and glorified. She has spoken through the Prophets," said Brown in his Nicene Creed, a passage written nearly 2,000 years ago that refers to God with only male pronouns.

The Daily Caller also explained that the microphones in the Cathedral of St. Luke (where the ordination occurred) projected the voice of another bishop for the duration of the Nicene, but the microphones switched for Brown's line. It's not clear at this moment in time whether the switch was made intentionally for the line.

Deacon Todd Thomas of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington explained that while he's never heard a bishop use female pronouns to refer to God, individual bishops are free to change the words and phrasing as they please. Deacon Thomas did add, however, that they were encouraged to do so "in conversation" with lay people.

Meanwhile, Bishop Brown describes himself on his résumé as a "servant leader who strives for justice among all people and who continues to address white privilege, dismantle racism, and work for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Body of Christ."

He met his husband Tom Mousin when Mousin was a pastor at the United Methodist Church, and his ordination is the third time that a gay man or woman has been made bishop in the Episcopal Church - after Gene Robinson in 2003 (though he has since divorced his partner Mark Andrew), and Mary Glasspool, who married Becki Sander in 2009, was present at Brown's ordination.