The most powerful entity in the universe is god, and he’s a man. This belief has indirectly aided in the creation of a gender imbalance due to its monotheistic principals and has left me asking myself, “What, or who, represents women in Christianity?”
Is there any valid point for god having a distinct gender? This discrepancy of power has contributed to the current imbalance of gender equality in western civilization. There may be some who look at god as genderless, but there are negative ramifications of god being seen in the image of a man.
It’s important to consider how Canada began; many of Canada’s earliest European settlers were Christian men, and many of them aided or spearheaded the development of policies and laws almost completely without the input of any women.
Being that Christians set much of Canada’s foundation, even those of us who aren’t Christian have grown up in a culture that’s been strongly influenced by Christianity.
The effect of this ongoing belief in a single god highlights the idea of the divinity of men without recognizing the divinity of women.
Throughout my life I have discussed the idea of there being a goddess with both men and women. Several of the men I talked to responded by labelling my message as “feel-good, hippy bullshit.”
We as a society will respect someone when they describe their relationship with god, but we will not typically respect someone who’s speaking about their relationship with a goddess in the same way.
The belief of a female goddess shouldn’t be slandered and the fact that it is slandered contributes to young Canadians thinking that this belief is something that shouldn’t be taken seriously. The battle to establish a greater sense of gender equality is a fight that we as men and women need to examine together in this patriarchal society.
One could argue that the image of god being a male encourages men to be loving caregivers and to be responsible for their actions. In no way would I disagree with this, but this belief puts the image of man on a pedestal while the image of women is left in the shadows.