Ya know you’re becoming a celebrity when the Mormon Church feels forced to warn their faithful against you.
Go HERE to see their write-up on “Goddess Worship.” (Actually, they make us sound quite good! Oh, well, I know you tried hard, Mormon-guy writer, but you can’t win ‘em all!) Here are a few snippets from Mormon guy’s write-up:
“Organization Structure: This [Goddess Movement] philosophy transcends a number of organizations and movements. Lacking its own organizational structure, goddess worship permeates and affects such diverse and seemingly unrelated areas as radical feminism, Jungian psychology, general Pantheism and extreme environmentalism.”I gotta tell ya, noting offends me but that last sentence. I don’t think we’re creeping into society! I think we’re barreling into it!!!
Snip
“Not only has the Goddess been written about in New Age/Occult books, touted by noted psychologists as being a universal part of the human psyche, and heralded as a rallying point for anti-Christian feminists, she is also being spoken of in public schools throughout America. [GASP!]
snip
“Tal Brooke, a Christian author and researcher with the Spiritual Counterfeits Project in Berkeley, California stated, 'Children watch plays about Mother Earth; they are taught that to despoil the goddess who gave them birth by polluting the environment is more than just ecological crime, it is essentially blasphemy.'
snip
“…Jalaja Bonheim’s … Walking Prayer for the Earth …: ‘The earth is not dead matter. She is alive. Now begin to speak to the earth as you walk. You can speak out loud, or just talk to her in your mind. Send your love into her with your exhalation…. I ask forgiveness for having injured you. Forgive us, Mother Earth.’
snip
“Thus, from radical feminism and pagan witchcraft to elementary school textbooks, Goddess worship, in its many manifestations, is ever creeping into modern society.”
'touted by noted psychologists as being a universal part of the human psyche..'
ReplyDeleteWow, really? Would you happen to know by whom?
Jung, for one, Jean Shinoda Bolen for another...
ReplyDeleteThey ain't seen nuttin' yet.
Barreling into it ,Well done us. Here in the uk they are bringing in a law against inciting religious hatred ,god knows how it will be enforced but its an infringement of our civil liberties supposedly to protect us against terrorists, am I going to have to watch what I say about patriarchal Gods.
ReplyDeleteAnns apples were beatiful.
"extreme environmentalism". I like that. Cause living in harmony with our ecosystem is dangerous!
ReplyDeleteJung’s student Erich Neumann wrote The Great Mother, about the Goddess, and he also probably “touts” Her as a “universal part of the human psyche….” The theologian Carol Christ, however, warns against getting too excited about this. She says that Jungians see the Goddess as an extremely powerful force – but only in the subconscious and the past. Otherwise She’s irrational and dangerous. “In this view,” says Christ, “there could never have been a ‘civilization’ of the Goddess because civilization is considered a product of the emergence of ‘man’ into the ‘light’ of ‘rationality’ and ‘consciousness.’” See Christ, 1997, Rebirth of the Goddess. Christ includes all those old guys who wrote about the Goddess in this indictment: Joseph Campbell and Robert Graves too (too bad; I liked some of the things these guys said. But I think Christ is right on target regarding them.). Most importantly, Christ says that one reason more feminists and academics shy away from the Goddess is that some of our Goddess writers have written about Jung, Neumann, and other Jungians erroneously.
ReplyDeleteMorgaine -- do you think Jean Shinoda Bolen has a more accurate view of this? I haven’t read Goddesses in Everywoman. I notice that her latest book is titled ”Urgent Message From Mother: Gather The Women, Save The World.” It’s gotten great reviews, and I couldn’t help myself – I ordered a copy. Thank you, thank you for the book, BTW. What a Gem!!! It’s one of those where, after the first 30 pages you say, “Dang! This book only has 400 pages! I’m gonna be done with it way before I want to!”
Yeah, andygrrl, that “extreme environmentalism” stuff is really hitting below the belt, dontcha think? How much nastier could you get, calling someone that?
ReplyDeleteI think I remember hearing something about that new law, Ursa. British non-Muslims have been threatening British Muslims, and the idea is that this may spark more Muslim terrorist attacks against Britain?
ReplyDeleteAthana - I'd say so, about Jean. I always assume writers have a male bias, so I hardly notice it when I read stuff by the men - I just assume they don't know any better and adjust accordingly.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the book! I can't wait to hear what you think of her research.
The Mormon church is one of the sickest praise and worship teams on the globe. I think they ought to be put on a reservation. They can keep Utah.
ReplyDeleteCan't speak for anyone else, but when I go reluctantly to substitute teach, I always wear my Old English Witch Ball (faerie enclosed therein), refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and bite my tongue to keep from spreading the Good News that God is on the ropes.
Hey, Goddess gals, when are we going to band together and challenge that Pledge, anyway? We'd be far more effective than atheists!
Repeat: Mormon = sick puppy.
Dear Athana,
ReplyDeleteI was searching BLOGs just now and I came accross your post: Mormons Discover the Goddess.
I am a religious studies major and I have my own BLOG:
http://elizabethquick.blogspot.com/
I clicked on the link to the article that you were reviewing in MORMONS DISCOVER THE GODDESS - it was a link to the Watchman Expositer, and I had to laugh, not at you but at the fact that the particular publication cited is actually an ANTI-Mormon website run by fundamentalist Christians.
There are many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians who actually make a full-time living by writing about Mormons and other "evil" groups out there. They sell newsletters and videos "exposing" those they disagree with and it is a very lucrative business for them.
So I just wanted to submit a correction that it is a Christian group and not a Mormon group who wrote that article.
I am not an apologist for the institutional Mormon church I am simply engaged in the academic study of religion, but I wanted to point out in the most friendly and compassionate way that what is really ironic about your post is that Mormons actually 'discovered' the Goddess about 100 and some odd years ago. Mormons have always had a Goddess and one of my academic specialties is the study of the Divine Feminine within the Mormon tradition.
I run a list-serv on Yahoo called Mormon Goddess
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mormongoddess/
And the last 3 posts on my BLOG pertain somewhat to Mormonism's Goddess:
http://elizabethquick.blogspot.com/
I'd love to hear your feedback on this issue. Hope to hear from you soon.
Beth
Thanks for the heads up, bethany magdalene. I guess I should leave the title of the post as is, so that people can find it again if they want.
ReplyDelete