How Do You Like Your God?
Lynn Robinson
January 1, 1999
"Mother God, bless this food. Amen.” Try that prayer at the next gathering of evangelical, Catholic, or Orthodox Christians for a meal. You're likely to leave the dinner table wearing the scarlet H of heresy in the minds of some of your guests. But how likely? Aren't images like "Mother God" gaining ground in America? The General Social Survey—an ongoing, ambitious attempt to ask Americans questions about almost everything, including religion—asked respondents to make a choice between contrasting images for God: mother / father, lover / judge, friend / king. The percentages below show respondents who felt completely comfortable with one image or the other. (Others, not shown, preferred a combination of the two.) Some of the results match conventional wisdom. Take the much-debated issue of the Creator's proper name. Evangelicals who attend church once a month or more (this qualifies as "high attending" in the world of social science) are overwhelmingly likely to see God exclusively as Father. "Low attending" evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and Catholics are less likely to do so, though around half of them still choose "Father" exclusively. While the remaining half of mainline Protestants and Catholics give some weight to images of God as Mother, only a very small percentage of respondents forsake Father entirely. But what if we slice the data other ways than by religious practice? Take a look at the differences between women and men (Table 2). Women are more likely than men to prefer to think of God exclusively as Father, though they also prefer images of lover and friend more than men do. Women also have a tendency to prefer one image exclusively than do men. Or consider education. Sociologist James Davison Hunter (Evangelicalism: ...
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