Our Mother Who Art in Heaven
There’s a lot of interesting stuff in this Harris Poll on belief in God, but what intrigues me is the question of God’s gender.
More than a third of respondents think of God as male, while only 1% think of God as female. Most of that 1% is coming from women: 2% of women think of God as female while less than one-half of one-percent of men do.
Of the religious affiliations shown in the results, Jews are the most likely to perceive God as female: 7%. Born-Again Christians are the least likely (gee, I wonder why) at less than one-half of one-percent.
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Via Kalibhakta.
6 Responses to “Our Mother Who Art in Heaven”
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henderson says:
I dont’ know about it myself. But my freind hated God. Just hated God. Mad as hell. To him God was a real smart ass male and alot of other things I can’t say on a PG rated blog. but a strange thing happened to him. He was at his very darkest hour and he had a dream. And in this dream God was a female guiding him. And she was kind and loved him. when he woke up, he had a whole different attitude. Just the idea that God may be a female, changed how he looked at everything. Strange. But to him it seemed to make all the difference.
Now he thinks God is as he decribes it “A Female Teutonic Diety”. Who knows? works for him.
November 16th, 2006 at 7:32 pm EST -
Violet says:
I had a somewhat similar experience when I started reading anthro, the Old Goddess civilization hypothesis of Maria Gimbutas, and the new Goddess paganism that has arisen from that (this was a long time ago). I didn’t hate God, because I didn’t believe in God. But the biblical God was just completely unappealing to me; the idea of a Father in Heaven was just silly.
I was surprised that when I started consciously trying on the notion of God As Mother, the whole idea of God became far more appealing to me. I could suddenly feel why people would find God a comforting figure. Part of that is my feminism, and part of it I’m sure is because I have a much closer relationship with my mother than my father.
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Paul Tergeist says:
If God existed, it could not, by definition, be gendered.
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richard cherry says:
of the people convinced that bricks float, 4% of them believe bricks to be a source of vitamin c; it just goes wibble wibble wibble in my head, I’m afraid!
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henderson says:
It was similar for him. He wanted to imagine a God. I guess he felt he needed to for some reason. But he had going all his life with the image of the Xstian God in his head. And he became a very angry guy. A VERY angry guy. I wonder what made his subconscious imagine a female God that night? It had never happened before and seemed to come out of the blue. Whatever was going on in his head to imagine God a female helped almost instantly the next day and all the days since. It was an amazing transformation to see in a person. He’s a happier soul for it. He’s one of those people who needs a God. I’m glad he found one that fits. If you’re going to go having a God, at least make it something that brings out the best I think. Some of the Gods people imagine don’t seem to be doing that for them.
These Jahova Witnesses were explaining to me that Christmas was wicked and I wasn’t going to heaven. and I love Christmas and thought “Well gee, aren’t you guys a pill.” I like Halloween too. Guess that’s out for Xtians as well. I like all that crap. If the Devil Worshippers had a day were they sent out their kids dressed up in little Satan Costumes to get candy, I’d be the first to wish them “Happy Pitch Fork Day” and be ready with my Blow Pops and Sweet Tarts.
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Paul Tergeist says:
FINALLY! A woman who makes perfect sense…..er…no offense, Vi. You make perfect sense too.
