General Discussion

a lot of harm to women.

To put goddess worship in perspective, though, goddess worship does not always mean beneficial or benign social norms.

Ancient societies with fertility goddesses flourished all around the Mediterranean in agricultural societies. The fertility ceremonies included human sacrifices and in some cases, eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the sacrificial victims, as well as ceremonial sprinkling of the blood on fields to ensure crop fertility.

Roman and Greek societies had pantheons of both gods and goddesses but women had limited rights. India has goddesses as well well as gods, but women experience practices like child marriage and honor killings for "inappropriate" behavior. Rape is a serious problem in India.

Having goddess worship does not ensure a safe, egalitarian environment for women.

Christianity insists that, as a monotheistic religion, it does not worship Mary, mother of Jesus, as a goddess. Yet, she is depicted as the Queen of Heaven who miraculously mated with God to produce a divine son, and remained a perpetual virgin capable of intercession with her divine son on behalf of human beings. Her obedience to God, and to the divine purpose of childbirth are held in high esteem as examples of virtuous behavior for women. So having a "nearly divine" woman in Christianity still produced patriarchal societies.

Aa a woman, I am fully in support of equal rights. As an American and a Dem, I fully support the right of religious freedom to follow one's beliefs, or to have none. But, as someone who minored in anthropology, I also know that goddess worship is not always beneficial to women and society.