God Is Not 3 Guys

Since the emergence of agrarian societies—the shift from hoe to plow—we have seen “the single, great, enduring, and nightmarish task of subsequent civilization: the taming of testosterone. Fuck it or kill it . . .” Ken Wilber One of my volunteer activities is helping to plan an annual Gather The Women program. This event is local, but GTW is international, with members working at the UN and in other countries to enlarge awareness of what are called women’s issues and are essentially human rights issues. In the words of Marilyn Nyborg, whom I call the mother of GTW, We gather women together for the opportunity to connect and support one another, to inspire and be inspired. . . We invite women to bond in sisterhood, to end competition and mistrust. We invite women to create a new model of feminine leadership that will bring our gifts to the world in full partnership with men and not hiding behind a man’s way of doing business. Our St. Cloud area event takes place at St. Ben’s. The prio...

Whatever the new administration’s success in handling the multiple crises it inherited, one aspect of Obama’s presence impresses me. I don’t like Obamamania but what I see of this pair makes me think, “All right. If young people need to swoon over celebs, let it be over this First Marriage.” When they met, she was his mentor. He doesn’t mind that for a while she made more money than he. At the Inaugural Ball, he rests his head on her shoulder, eyes closed. He writes that calling home to crow over a Senate victory, he’s told by Michelle to buy ant traps on the way home. He would never cheat on her because “Michelle would kick my butt.” He calls her his rock. When I watched Michelle and Barack on 60 Minutes, I marveled at their healthy marriage, but later I couldn’t quote any particular words they spoke as evidence of that. The difference between theirs and the usual marriage of male politicians was in their body language, their manner of exchange with each other and with the interviewer...

The Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) tell us, “You shall not have other gods besides me.” This prohibits idolatry or worshipping idols. I see idolatry whenever I go to a Christian church, where the God-talk never fails to conjure up images of male gods. Christians defend the Father-Son language by saying they need the comfort of a personal Spirit. But if this were all, Mother-Daughter language would be accepted. Well, goes the argument, we respect the tradition. So let’s look at the patriarchal tradition. Relentlessly we are assailed by the liturgy’s “He,” “Him,” and “His” references to individual male figures. More damaging than nouns such as “king,” “lord,” and “father” are the masculine pronouns, “He,” “Him,” and “His.” Insidiously they drip into us, conditioning us to feel that ultimate divine power is male and that male power is natural, normal, proper and right, while female power is unnatural, abnormal, improper and wrong. The pronouns’ deep effect was revealed by the theol...