ABOUT one in 2,500 children is born with a physical intersex condition, sometimes called a disorder of sex development.

They may have some unusual anatomy, like genitals which appear "in between" those of a typical girl or boy. Or there may be a "mismatch" between their genitals and other physical characteristics.

In the recent past, children with unusual-looking genital anatomy often had surgery to make them look more typical. However, some adults who underwent surgeries as young children have said that they would have preferred to be left as they were.

It is now increasingly common to delay surgery until a child is slightly older, so that doctors, parents and children can talk together about the possible treatment options and their consequences.

Many people with intersex conditions identify as unremarkably male or female, and live their lives in masculine or feminine gender roles. However, our society is sometimes uncomfortable with people whose bodies or gender identities are unusual, not knowing quite how to classify them.

The recent case of Caster Semenya, the South African athlete who won the women's 800m race at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, highlighted the difficulty that binary classification systems face.

It was suggested, after medical testing, that Semenya's high testosterone level might have given her an unfair advantage over other women athletes. Some people even claimed she was a man masquerading as a woman and should have her medal taken away.

Different cultures at different times have focused on various characteristics as communicating an individual's "true" sex: chromosomes, hormones, genital appearance, testes and ovaries, and so on.

However, in people with intersex conditions, these characteristics may not tally in expected ways. Semenya's case demonstrates that determining sex is not always easy, and that physical features do not always "match" .

Christians have sometimes found it particularly difficult to deal with people whose bodies or gender identities are not neatly classifiable. Some denominations believe that males and females have very different roles and responsibilities within families, churches and society, and that only males should serve as priests or pastors.

Many Christians also hold that the genders are complementary, and that the ways in which men and women relate to each other echo the ways in which God and humanity relate to each other.

This has been critiqued in recent years by feminist theologians, who argue that claiming men are to women as God is to humans is sexist and unjustifiable.

The existence of intersex raises more difficult questions for Christians who believe in fixed gender roles: if it is not always possible to know whether someone is male or female, how is it possible to say for sure whether they should be ordained or made a bishop?

The book of Genesis suggests that both males and females are made in God's image — but this need not mean that only males and females are made in God's image.

Gender roles are time and culture-specific, and Christian churches should be at the forefront of welcoming and celebrating a multiplicity of bodies and genders just as they are.