Gods and Goddesses

In early civilizations, human survival depended on a regular food supply from plant and animal sources. These, in turn, depended on the goodness of Nature, manifested on the Earth, through the sunshine and the rain that were necessary for growth of plant life and and also animal life, directly or indirectly

Earth, Sun and Rain were key figures in the process of survival and were probably the initial sources of worship by human beings. Perhaps with the exception of the Sun, these were viewed with female attributes – the great mother who gives and sustains life.

It is an established fact that in addition to male deities or gods, female deities or goddesses were common in the religions of early civilization.

Here are a few examples:

Roman
Gods – Jupiter, Neptune
Goddesses- Venus, Minerva

Greek
Gods – Zeus, Poseidon
Goddesses – Hera, Gaia

Egyptian
Gods – Osiris, Horus
Goddesses – Isis, Bastet

Nordic
Gods – Odin, Thor,
Goddesses – Frigg, Freyja


Also, it appears that there is a renewed interest in Goddess worship in the western world at present.


Although it is a fact that most early religions had both male and female deities, that is, gods and goddesses, it is most noticeable that in the Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which constitute more than half of the present world's population, deity is exclusively male. Female deities have disappeared entirely.

Perhaps, this is related, to some extent, to the unequal status of women in comparison with men in today's society.


Here are some verses from the Bible to illustrate this unequal status:

Leviticus 12:2
“If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days.”
Leviticus 12:5
“But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks.”

Judges 19:16-30
Some men in the city wanted to "know" a visiting Levite. The owner of the house offered his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine so that the men could rape them. Verse 24 states: "Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing." The man sent his own concubine outside to the gang, who proceeded to serially rape her. She died of the attacks. The man only learned of her death when he was leaving the house in the morning and stumbled across her body. The woman was clearly considered expendable and of little value.

Ephesians 5:22-24
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."

These are just a few verses showing the unequal status of women in comparison to men in the Bible.


The Quran of Islam has a similar message:

Quran 4:34
“Men are superior to women and have authority over them, while women must obey men or risk being beaten.”

Apologists may offer some roundabout explanations in an attempt to refute what is stated above showing the unequal status of women in the Abrahamic religions.