Jason, at The Wild Hunt beat me to commenting on this survey of religions from Baylor University that appears to believe that "religion" means "xian."
Interestingly, the study is being touted for its "Four Gods" meme. But, don't get excited; they're not pantheists. They just mean that, apparently, in America you can conceive of divinity in any of four different ways -- as long as all of those ways are male. As Jason explains, the four conceptions of divinity that, apparently, all Americans endorse are either Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical or Distant . . . .
"One area that emerged from the survey that has excited the researchers is what they call the "Four Gods." Depending on how engaged people think God is in the world and how angry God is with the world. "If you think about people perceiving God as high in anger, low in anger, high in engagement, low in engagement, it results in four different types of gods," said Froese."
It's such a narrow view -- one that ignores half of the human race and half of the divine beings ever recognized -- that it's startling. It reminds me of the first book that I ever read about female conceptions of the divine: The Politics of Women's Spirituality, edited by Charlene Spretnak. An essay by Anne Kent Rush in that book literally changed my life. Rush wrote that: [F]or any woman, to perpetuate a patriarchal religion and to worship a male god is for her to deify her oppression. Rush closed her essay with the famous words of Monique Wittig from Les Guerilleres: You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent.
I set off immediately upon that road, and, as the poet said, that has made all the difference.
So, Baylor, bite me.
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