New NIV is gender-neutral

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/The Blaze) — There‘s a new translation of the world’s most popular Bible: the New International Version, or NIV. It has been criticized by some conservatives who don’t like its use of gender-neutral language, arguing altering the text may affect its theological message.

The new version does not change the pronouns referring to God, who remains “He” and “the Father.“ But it does aim to avoid using ”he“ or ”him” as the default reference to an unspecified person.

In one example of the altered text, Mark 1:17 in the NIV Bible reads: “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’”  The NIV Bible uses “people” instead of the traditional term “men.”