Category Archives: theology

Educating Girls about God: Damage Done

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More than twenty years of teaching high school religious studies – twelve in all girls’ schools – combined with my own spiritual/intellectual/emotional/professional evolution, make me more eager than ever to advocate for changes in the way we teach and talk to girls about God. Most children and teens are given the impression that God is an old white man.  The message is transmitted indirectly in many ways: Catholic school religion classes, youth ministry programs, Church life, masculine pronouns and metaphors used for God, the almost exclusively male images of the divine, the depiction of heavens filled with male whiteness, and the masculine language dominating Church doctrine.

Girls don’t just have a hard time seeing themselves in God’s image – many find it hard to see themselves in the Church at all.  There’s a lack of meaningful roles for them.  Their voices and visions aren’t cherished.  Their needs are not prioritized.  This consolidation of white male power goes back a long way but it was consolidated during the Reformation which “enforced the need for apologetical theology and a closed system of power and authority. The clergy were trained in such an environment, giving rise to an elitism, as if their well-honed philosophical arguments and theological methods gave them private access to God over the hoi polloi.”(Ilia Delio)  The absence of women in the institutional Church – and the embedded ideology/imagery of white maleness can shift.  At Carondelet we may think that because we empower our students inside and outside the classroom and are fully committed to their liberation, that they wouldn’t be vulnerable to this religious oppression, but that’s not true. Inspiring our students to activate a new Christian culture is possible but it will take a lot more intentional work.

Yes: Christianity developed in a patriarchal society. 

Yes: the historical Jesus was male. 

Yes: Jesus used male analogies when describing his relationship to God. 

Yes: only men – almost all white men – have held leadership positions in the Church. 

Yes: our theology was developed by men who wrote the gospels & letters, and the early “Fathers of the Church” who explained scripture, and male theologians interpreting that tradition. 

Yes: Catholic scripture and tradition have contributed to this misconception by systematically referring to God in masculine terms.  

 


But God is Spirit – the Spirit who created the universe 13.8 billion years ago – God is Being/Consciousness Itself – God is “I Am Who Am” – God is Mystery – God is Love. God is the Christocentric Energy who took on flesh 2000 years ago in a remote region of the Roman Empire in a male body.  However, the maleness of Jesus is not a “revelation of the maleness of God nor of the divinity of males – but a free self-emptying by which he participated in the oppressor class of humanity, thereby definitively undermining not only patriarchy but all forms of oppression derived from it”. (Sandra Schneiders) 

 


God has no gender, race, ethnicity, color.  And Catholic education can’t keep perpetuating the same ideology/aesthetic/sensibility. Our understanding of God, humanity, creation, and religion has evolved – but the structures of the Catholic Church and the way we talk and teach about God haven’t. We need to shift what is passed on through our social, cultural, religious especially educational institutions to reflect this change.  Our girls deserve it and need it.

 

What are the consequences when girls are inundated with messages that God is old, white, and male? What is the impact when girls don’t feel valued in the institutional Church?  I’ve observed that they can lose the inclination to see themselves as God-like – holy and sacred – and they lose interest in participating in Church life. I’ve been asking students for years and it always makes me weep.  Below are some of the responses I got last week from my sophomores (I can share the full peardeck responses with you if you’re interested).  See for yourself.

How has visualizing God as a certain race or gender impacted you? 

I went to a Catholic school since kindergarten and I was never taught there that God is not a man and he is not white. I wish they had taught us that. I remember specifically in 4th grade the teacher said she would be really disappointed if the Catholic Church started letting nuns do all of the things priests can do because God and Jesus were men not women for a reason

Depicting God as a white man has impacted me and others because it has been sending us subconscious messages from when we were small to believe that White Men ruled heaven. God has no gender or race and it’s harmful to see the lack of depth in the depictions of God

I always assumed that God was white

Visualizing God as a white male has inadvertently made me grow up to believe that white males are the ones who should be placed in positions of power. I do not think this now but that was after I educated myself.

I think it alienated me from Christianity as a whole because I’m not white and I didn’t really find it relatable. God looked more like my principal, who I already associated with discipline and not fun things, so unconsciously I just sort of drifted away from the religion.

It has made me feel less than as a woman

Viewing god as white is what I have always done. I feel like it is not right that that is the only way most people see him and I never really realized the impact that this has caused

I believe God looks sort of like my grandpa did because he meant a lot to me and was a father figure in my life and he’s gone now so I sort of put his face to God because God is a father figure to me. No one else would see him like that though, because they have different perceptions and experiences with him, so I think the image of God is a personal thing. 

I think it has impacted people because as a young age most people are taught that God is a white male and it creates an image in their head of what God looks like and it is hard to change that image.

I don’t think it has impacted me too much but I used to visualize God as a man and when I was younger it made me a little upset because I am a girl and I was confused.

I never really imagined God as a person, as I’m not religious and don’t find as much meaning in religious and catholic depictions of God. It never impacted me, although, since my mom is from the Middle East, as is Jesus, it seemed to me odd to give him the characteristics of someone from a different place. In general I believe this has made God seem more set in stone and like a ruler than of a being and energy of love that just wants balance between men and women, people of all different races, and ultimately between man and nature. This is the biggest distinction to me, because by drawing god as human, we make ourselves superior and believe that we are “in His image” when I’m reality we do not know what His image is. Maybe there was a Jesus among the frogs too. Maybe they believe they are in God’s image too. 

How visualizing God as a certain race or gender impacted me is how I approach prayer because when I pray I like to think of it as a conversation between God and myself so seeing God as a man makes me see God as a father figure.

I was always taught that God was a white male and when I see God portrayed as not a white male it looks weird to me. I wish I wasn’t taught that and I could see God in many different ways.

It has impacted me because white people have been the main focus of our whole lives. Even though we do not really know if Jesus is white or black it is okay to believe anything. I believe Jesus was white and black but the way I see it is Jesus was a white man.

I’ve imagined god as a white man my whole life until recently. Now I just think of god as a being that isn’t even similar to humans.

I think visualizing God as a white man has subconsciously made me think that white people are made for leadership positions. Imagining God as a woman was something that I would never think of doing as a child.

It impacted me because it led me to think that God was a caucasian male most of my life from school influence and from the Church.

Seeing god as a male makes me feel like women aren’t seen as enough or powerful. The idea of God being a white male could be the reason why people see them as better.

Visualizing God as a certain race or gender has made me question my faith. I went to a school where the depicted God as a white man and it made me confused how they could depict him like that when Jesus obviously wasn’t European

Growing up and visualizing God as a white man made me think that white men will always be the “most powerful” in society. Especially knowing that a woman cannot be a priest in the Catholic Church made me feel that women were considered less then. It took other people in my life to show me that no one really knows the face of God and he can look like anything.

I think it has impacted others because this picture of God being a white male is ingrained in our brain and since we have always been taught this it can be hard to change the way our brain thinks of God.

I never really thought about the gender and race of God. I have always thought that God was a He because in the Bible God was considered the father of Jesus. I think it has affected people to believe that males are more capable than women and of course seeing history it affected women in many ways to not having as many rights as males.

It has made me understand why our country/world is structured the way it is with white males at the top.

Visualizing God as a man I feel like gave me an inner sense of misogyny that I try not to think about but I think is a bit ingrained in my brain.

I feel like seeing God as a white man is very traditional for the Catholic Church as many of the prominent leaders in the church are also white men.

I think most people become a bit racist without knowing, or they just believe that white males are superior. Also, some minorities can feel inferior when they see someone that does not represent them as superior.

Visualizing God as a male has impacted me because it has made me feel inferior. I think this has affected people in general because when God is portrayed as a white male, it can lead to some internalized misogyny or racism.

When I was in middle school, visualizing God in a certain gender upset me a bit because I did not understand why God had to be a man and could not be a woman.

Anytime I’ve thought of God I have always thought that God was male and white. It hasn’t really impacted me in any way at all.

 

How do you think it has impacted people in general?

I’m sure that it always subconsciously bugged me that God is portrayed as a white man but I never really thought about it or learned why it’s that way. It also impacted me to see really only men working in the church when I was younger. 

I think that this impacts people in general because it can belittle people into thinking that they cannot hold positions of power because they do not fit into this description of the perfect person for whatever position they hold or want to hold. 

I think in general it really has given people an excuse to believe that white men are superior when really God could be any race and any gender. This view of a white male as god has changed the world’s view in a negative way. 

I think it confuses people and people might still want to think god is a white man.

When people view God as a white man, they also are more likely to believe that white men are better suited for positions of leadership and authority than women or Black people.

It’s natural for people to feel more disconnected from an entity that doesn’t resemble them than one that does. White people, men specifically, may find it easier to feel a connection when they’re able to depict freely god as white and male, but when women or poc attempt to do something similar get told they’re forcing politics into the church.

So we are almost trapped in this idea.

It has impacted other people in general because it might be offensive that God is usually only portrayed as a white male. other genders and races might feel bad that their culture isn’t represented.

I think people who are not the same race or gender as the visualized God are more impacted by this because they can’t see God as somebody who looks like themselves. 

It has made white men think they are superior to others because of their religion. we can’t think of god as a human because he isn’t anything like us. He is pure love. 

It can make people feel disconnected from God.

It may have impacted others by showing how a caucasian man is God therefore making people believe caucasians should have more power.

I think it has made some people think that white men can be the only ones with a position of authority, which I believe has definitely contributed to the racial division within Christianity. We should be showing people much more diverse pictures of God and have them decide for themselves what God looks like to them.

Understanding that God is not necessarily a white male is extremely important for our country. Thinking of God as white has absolutely had a huge effect on our country and how we perceive people based on the color of their skin. The more people begin to understand that God was not necessarily a white male, the more our country can continue to grow in a positive direction.

I think it makes others distressed because they might think that Latinos, Afro-Americans, etc. aren’t fit to lead.

 

I don’t want to perpetuate the transmission of this old paradigm.  I do try every day to talk and teach and pray and engage differently. I believe we are creating a different culture at Carondelet.  Edie and the Campus Ministry team have taken a huge step this year by emphasizing inclusive language in our prayers and liturgies – and in our embrace of the “Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier” formula for prayer (which does not substitute female imagery for the divine). Our programming celebrates the CSJs who advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the Religious Studies department we are revising our curriculum to empower out students to explore God’s love and consciousness in fresh ways, interpret scripture, critique patriarchal designs, zoom out to see the bigger cosmological view of Salvation history, and envision themselves as change makers in herstory.

All of us can contribute to this shift.  When we pray, teach, and worship we can and should use a variety of sacred images and symbols so that one (the old, male, white one) is not prioritized over others.  We can also be more aware of the symbolic nature of language and our use of male pronouns referring to God, perhaps calling God other names such as, Holy God, Creator God, Divine Mystery.  I’m curious to hear your ideas – your thoughts – your perspective …  

I live with the hope that God is doing new things in each of us, in Christian communities, in the Catholic church, in all wisdom traditions – in creation itself – calling us to unitive creative action and life and love and justice and healing and joy.