Thursday, November 17, 2005

CHRISTIANITY EYES THE Goddess

I am impressed! Still another EXCELLENT Christian summary of the Goddess Movement. Would that our Movement itself could write such poignant self portraits. There’s so much good stuff in this, that I’m dividing it into two: Today the sweet and neutral stuff, tomorrow the “These-women-kiss-the-hindquarters-of-the-Horned-One” stuff:

“The Goddess movement ... considers its first major gathering to have been a conference attended by about 1,200 women at the University of Massachusetts in late 1975...

SNIP

“The Feminist spirituality movement ... has become one of the largest submovements within feminism. [Wow! Goody for us!]

SNIP

“...the ancient female religions present a striking contrast to established Christianity: in the female theology [sic], nature is sacred; time is circular; body and spirit are one; original sin is absent; THE INDIVIDUAL'S WILL IS EQUAL TO THE GOD'S; play, humor, and sexuality have an important place in rituals; and pleasure is a positive force, not a sin [Emphasis his, not mine].5 [Sounds great to me!]

SNIP

“Many modern feminists are dedicated to destroying patriarchy along with all its perceived “injustices” and “inequalities.” [And? So?]

SNIP

“Clearly, the destruction of patriarchy seems to be common to the various “networks,” “circles,” and “covens” involved in this movement. [Yawn]

SNIP

“Furthermore, witchcraft, goddess worship, neo-paganism, or whatever it is called, is on the rise in America and around the world…. [I]t is the extreme example of the popular self-esteem, self-love gospel of the New Age. “Love of self for self,” according to Starhawk, “is the creative force of the universe.”38

snip

"The horror of great darkness is sweeping over the West today. [Chill out, dude! You're the type we try to convert before you splinter into 1000 icy fragments!]

"Christians must be aware that when the moon is full, writers, teachers, nurses, computer programmers, artists, lawyers, poets, plumbers, and auto mechanics — women and men from varied backgrounds — gather on hilltops, beaches, in open fields, and in ordinary houses to invoke the Mother Goddess and her consort, the “Horned One,” by their varied names. [Yay! But some of us aren't too familiar with your “horned one”]

SNIP

“... As Christians, we, too, are their enemies. [Ummmmm…. Well, yeah…. How many people did you say you slaughtered during the Inquisition? How many children have your priests raped? How many Crusade/Wars did you say you booked with the Middle East? Total number tortured in your conversion process? Total of my pagan ancestors you burned alive?].

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Excellent, Grasshopper...

Athana said...

Hey, Lisa. How's school going?

Lisa said...

School and my two jobs are fabulous and exhausting, actually. I did a presentation on Latinas/os in the Born Again movement after I went to a service, and my professor was fascinated and appalled. Of course, I got an A, lol. And my Gender and Spirituality professor loved the psuedo-"midrash" I wrote on the Adam and Eve myth, another A!

Anonymous said...

replacing an unbalanced system with another unbalanced system! you can be smart AND spiritual.

Athana said...

Have you read Switching to Goddess? Before you call someone and their spirituality "unbalanced," don't you think it's "smart" to hear the person out first?

BTW, you can get a copy at most of the larger online bookstores.