Father God or Mother Goddes?

[Emaleth]

Hi everyone!
I was thinking whether a person's attitude to his or her parents may influence the choice of religion. I, for example, never felt much close to my father, although he is a good man and I cannot complain about him, he was never able to show his feelings to me or my sister. My mom on the other hand quite the contrary. Maybe this is the reason why I always considered the issue of Christian God, our Father as doubtful. I prefer the concept of Mother Goddes, one you love, you trust and can share all your secrets with, while Christian God provides us with food, clothes, but not love. What do you think?

Blessed Be

[Phoenix]

wow I was the first to vote! Well I am much closer to my mother. I love my father dearly but he is not that good at expressing emotions. He has always been a wonderful man and a great provider. It is really clear that he has always tried to give us EVERYTHING that he never had. So I guess the choice just comes down to the fact that I can talk to my mother more openly and both my father and i are very stubborn, we always seem to have completly opposite opinions so we argue quite a lot. As for the influence on my religious choices I think that maybe I turned to wiccca more because there was an equality between the Goddess and The God which appealed to me more than a religion where women were blamed for the original sin and therefore all terrible things that happen in this world are our fault.

[shnen]

I could tell my story but I'm not... it's too blah, but i am not close to either parent, which is fine with me.
My friends are my family!

[MammaStar]

Well, I chose my Mom, though I do share a house with my Dad. These days I feel I'm not all that tight with either parent & that's just circumstances right now.

My story is too long & complicated to tell, bits & pieces have been told in various posts. My parents have a way of others in their lives to come between them & their children & in the immortal words of Forrest Gump "That's all I have to say about that."

Kind of wish there was an option for siblings....cause it's my brothers who I'm most closest too.

[Nect]

I'm equally close to both. Grew up very spoilt and pampered by both my parents...over the years, I've begun to develop my own mind (which they are not so happy about) and my relationship with both of them has definitely changed. Not diminished nor gotten stronger, but it's just of a different quality. I'm so close to both that lying to them is pointless - the discomfort of not having told them the truth makes me confess later anyway!

So, yeah, back to topic: I connect with both the Mother and Father...I'm all for balance.

Nect

[Flaire-FireStar]

I'm not really close to either. If I was to sit down and talk to one of them, sure, it'd be my mom cuz I'm that little bit closer to her, than I am to my dad.

[Rubi Waters]

Originally posted by Emaleth
Hi everyone!
I was thinking whether a person's attitude to his or her parents may influence the choice of religion. I, for example, never felt much close to my father, although he is a good man and I cannot complain about him, he was never able to show his feelings to me or my sister. My mom on the other hand quite the contrary. Maybe this is the reason why I always considered the issue of Christian God, our Father as doubtful. I prefer the concept of Mother Goddes, one you love, you trust and can share all your secrets with, while Christian God provides us with food, clothes, but not love. What do you think?

Blessed Be

wow that's and interesting thought, i will have to sit down and think about that.
I'm a little closer with my mother..though not close enough to tell her my beliefs. but when i do say something about it , I will tell her first then maybe my father.

[Sequoia]

this isn't too good a time to ask me. I'm about ready to blow off both my parents and live under a bridge or something.

[MammaStar]

Hey Puma, you can come live w/me & Eshallet!!!!

[Ganga]

Interesting thought, this. I voted Mother, because my father was always a bit distant to me. Interestingly, he was much more easy-going and I never had fights with him during my teen-years. I used to have terrible fights with my Mom, though. It was not the easiest relationship.

And how did I turn out? Well, regarding religion, I concentrate equally on Goddess and God, but usually in their virgin aspects. I view Goddess more as an Older Sister than Mother. She is more like the best friend. And God to me appears as the best friend, too. As an amazingly handsome young man. :)

[Twilight Garden]

I'm now very close with them both in different ways.

I distanced myself from my father for a while in my later teens because I blamed him for the break up of my family. But in my early and mid teens I couldn't be around my mom for more than an hour at a time, if my father wasn't there. So I went back and forth with my parents for a while before settling on the fact that I actually have very wonderful parents that put up with a load of crap from me. :p

[Nyxee]

To be honest, I don't think there's a connection. If there is, it is sooo reversed in my case :)

I voted for Father. But that's because I get on well with my dad as a friend whereas my mum has always been, and will always be, my mother.

Dad realised he didn't do the parent thing well, and I realised I couldn't live as his daughter. So we became friends.

However, my mother is the one I go to when I need the help a parent provides...

It's so much better now that I don't live with them.

Yet, I'm a feminist Witch, her worships the Dark Mother. Perhaps I'm greedy for all those mummy cuddles :D

[satika]

I was never close to my mother. My father raised me. Dad
had unusual ideas and still is very open minded.
Blessed Be
Satika

[FelixFire]

I'm a daddy's girl, all the way. My mom has several problems - health problems, addictions, past abuse, etc. Dealing with her has always been a traumatic and heart-wrenching experience. I love her, but can't stand to be near her for very long. She embodies the concept of a psychic vampire to a "t". As a teenager, I hated her. Now that I'm an adult, I pity her. I've forgiven a lot, but I doubt we'll ever be very close. I know she loves me, but she has a hard time not slipping into manipulation, guilt trips, lies, etc. *sigh*

Dad, on the other hand, has always been my buddy. Not that he doesn't have problems of his own, but he handles them a lot better. He and I can have a conversation about *anything*, and even if we hold completely opposite points of view we'll each give the other something to think about, and it *never* turns into an argument. We are very similar in a lot of ways, right down to the type of food we like to eat and our attitude about clutter. (The more the better, LOL) We're very close, we make sure to spend at least one day a week alone together, just hanging out and enjoying eachother's company. :)

I really don't treat either one like a parent though, our relationship is all twisted-up. I tend to act like the parent of the family - lending money, fixing problems, handling finances, giving advice, holding hands at doctor's appointments... LOL. I like to say I have two children, and the're growing up so fast...both almost 50 now...should be independant any day now... LMAO

Deity-wise, I see the male and female as aspects of the same ONE. Having never been force-fed Christianity, I have no bad associations with a male God, and accept male divine energies easily. I tend to refer to Them as the Green Man and Mother Nature, and see them as a loving, virile couple (when I imagine them as human-like). I don't really hold one over the other, I figure they're parts of a whole, and each has strengths particular to each, but neither is supreme over the other. The ONE is the supreme, which is equally made up of the Two.

[Radocs]

My parents don't have anything to do with my being Pagan so I declined to vote.

[AradiaSupernova]

I said my Mother. I can go to her for anything, ask her about anything, and I really don't have to be afraid to do so. *shrugs*

[*Adia*]

I voted for my mother and my father. I'm not really closer to one more than the other, but i am however close to one of them more than the other during certain times. I mean, if I need to talk about something and its of a subject that I'm better off talking with my mom, then I'm closer to her. Vice versa for my dad. But they both mean just as much to me as the other one does, and I don't know what I would do without them. They have brought me up to be a loving, open-minded and highly respectful daughter, and I owe my life to them. *wipes a tear* :wah: hehe

Well...there's my two cents

[Rada]

Well,I voted for my Mother.Now I'm 20 and it's been for 10 years that I don't speak to my father.The thing is when I was still a kid he never seemed to understand me and any idea of mine.So I just stopped comunicating with him and it's fine with me.
As for God or Goddess I think Man and Woman are completely two different worlds and to have the balance in Universe they have to be equal.

[Earthcup]

I voted neither. I am closer to Goddesses but IRL I actually have more issues with my mother.

My problems with Gods has much more to do with Jehovah than my dad, who was a great guy.

[maya]

I voted neither. I've seen my father barely a dozen times in the last decade and each time only for a few hours. Despite his efforts to overcome his drug/alcohol problems he is still not a person I would associate with of my own free will. I could never relate to my mother and when she started asking ME for relationship advice I knew I had surpassed her in maturity. I feel sorry for her but I also feel like she brings on herself the things that happen to her. I haven't received any real parenting since I was 12 and now at 21 I don't have anything in common with them. I see my mom maybe once a month but I don't really have anything to talk to her about. I guess in some ways I feel cheated out of those relationships. I can't say that either of them influence the way I feel about deities either. I do have to say though that I think characterizing the God of the Christians as unloving is incorrect. Some religions may wish it to seem otherwize but according to the bible there are many instances where love is shown.

~ Maya

[Earthcup]

I never said he was unloving. I personally had a really bad personal experience with Christianity. It has given me some issues that I'm working through with Zeus, Manannaan and Pan.

Christ and Jehovah are very loving, I had a bad relationship with Jehovah myself but that was partly my fault perhaps. Christianity is a wonderful spiritual path IMO.

[slovene_gds]

I'm tres close with my father, and have had a VERY strained relationship with my mother in the last 5 years(I'm 15) with all the abuse and cocaine-addict step-fathers.....weee, fun!....anyhoo, I'm significantly closer to the Goddess, so playing mini-psychologist, I'm assuming that that's because I want that close relationship with a mother.......I feel much more of a connection to Her than anything else in this world.
Blessed Be~
Bast LunaMavelle

[Witchy Cowgirl]

I don't feel I can vote on this poll.
When I was young I was very close to my Dad.
As a teenager I don't remember being particually close to either parent although there were no major problems in our house hold.
Now that I'm an adult with kids of my own I'm closer to my Mom.

FelixFire....I love your description of the Two (God/dess) being One Supreme Begin. That is exactly how I feel as well. I just hadn't been able to come up with the words. Well Put!

Maya....I'm a Christian and my God is a very loving God. But I can see where you might think not. But in my experience with Christianty we are free to view God as we wish. Some Denominations do see him as a Diety to be feared. I myself can't accept that view.

[Emaleth]

I want to thank all of you for sharing your experience. This poll was just out of curiosity and my pseudo - psychological inclinations:D

Statistically speaking it turned out that most of us are closer to our mothers, so this might, but only might signify why we chose paganism, where Goddes is equal to God.

Unfortunately, I realized that it is rather common in Western society for fathers not to show their feelings and being providers rather than parents. So I guess most of people from different religious backgrounds would have similar relationships with their parents. This, in turn, means that my theory isn't altogether right. But keep on voting, who knows what might happen :)


Blessed Be

[clef0628]

I was close to my Mother as a child. (A real mommy's boy). But during college I was not close to either one of them. now I'm closed with my Dad. I became Pagan during the years I was not colse to them, but I think Dad made me love nature as a child always taking me camping and stuff, and that did lead to me becoming Pagan. (Thor smiling in back at me.) Thou, I find myself liking Freyja too.

[mol]

Close to both...

In both aspects!

[Heathen Dawn]

I’m closer to my mother, she’s the more emotional type, while my father is tougher, more hard-nosed. That was one of the factors behind my search for a religion that has Goddess-worship. One would think that would lead me to neglect the God, and it nearly happened, but now I worship the God too and see Him as helping me cope with my problems as a man.

[Heathen Dawn]

Wow, an old thread this is! :eek: Apparently, someone need only vote, not post, in order to bump a poll thread up.

[Morr]

im not close to either... maybe thats why im a Wiccan and I have a Patron God & Goddess who are like a mother & father to me...

[Cataline]

I voted for mother, not b/c I am particularly close to her, but as compared to the nonexistant relationship with my father....well...I didn't start writing to share my family trauma. I was intrigued by the idea that your relationship with one parent or another can influence your relationship with the divine - feeling closer to your mother made you feel closer to a Mother Goddess.

I had the opposite experience for much of my life. Having no father led me to a wonderful relationship with a male deity who was the protector and provider that I was missing in my own life. As I grew up, this shifted, or rather, expanded - recognizing not only a sense of the divine that was what I wanted in my life, but what I AM in my life.

[Eowyn]

Im closer to my mother, she's the one that saw me grow up, be there for me and all that while my dad were on trips, was at the bar with his friends and made a fun when he was home by yelling at mom and almoust hit us. He could scream and do his thing you know and he makes me feel really bad. We cant normal, we have to whisper and then he comes and says 'He's conserned about us' and all that when we came around 10-11 because we at 12 can choose where we are going to live and he re married around that time and all that.

My mother might have a problem with me having an altar but otherwise she's an angel with a great deal of patience and she looks out for us and are generally conserned and not just because we get to choose where we live so Im pretty much closer to my mom

[LadyDracona1984]

i am very close with my father, the two of us agree on several things... and no matter what i am doing with my life he always seems to be willing to support me. when i left the catholic church and started to look at other religions (especially non-christian ones) he was ok with it... kinda he wasn't happy with it but he still supported me... my mother on the other hand told me she couldn't support me if i wasn't a christian... kinda of hypocritical considering she's always been ther for my cousin who left the chruch and became a muslim... :rant: turning the rant off now...

but yeah definately closer to my dad, i don't think my relationship with my mother will ever be the same... we are just a little too different now...

kat
quote of the moment: Life always needs a little magic. :broomride

[Ron]

I am equally close to both of my parents... which infact isn't that close at all. But Dewiniaeth or Paganism as you might choose to call it, runs in our blood and is something that I have been raised with, not a choice; well I suppose you could argue that I could choose to not practise - but that kind of a thought doesn't rest in my mind for more than a part of a second. Plus I mean really, "Pagan be, Pagans see" is just to good of motto to even try to betray. :P