In the end, lawsuits against God are almost uniformly dismissed by courts. Establishing an OIC Arbitration Centre and bringing the OIC Preferential Trade System into force as soon as possible are among the priorities of Türkiye with regards to COMCEC. But that doesn’t mean that those with enough faith, whether in the system or in the Almighty, won’t keep trying to find a way. Though this was a long way from the outlook of the established Church, Christian writing that is entirely accepted by the Church has also seen a feminine side to God. After writing about my “Religion as Play” hypothesis at The Autarkist, which says that religion is a form of play favored by natural selection by which we develop social and cognitive skills that help us cope with difficulties, the online discussion on the facebook group instigated an entire series of considerations about religion; whether it is natural and necessary, natural and unnecessary, or neither natural nor necessary; and whether Epicureanism is, can be or should be a religious identity.

In January 1938, Locke’s infamous review publicly asked Hurston when she would begin to write “social document fiction.” This response so wounded her that she later regretted writing the novel at all. The kahuna were well respected, educated individuals that made up a social hierarchy class that served the King and the Courtiers and assisted the Maka’ainana (Common People). According to a report by the Singapore Management University, from the 1980s onwards, more people in China and other Asian countries have converted to Christianity, and these new converts are mostly “upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese”. The People’s Republic of China holds a policy of state atheism. Over the next two centuries, the Sikhs would be led by nine more gurus. Since most of her books were published during the Depression, she paid her bills through story and essay sales, book advances, and two Works Progress Administration jobs with the Federal Writers’ Project. The largest royalty any of her books ever earned was $943.75. We often know a lot about these and other important persons — that is, we know something abut their politics, their moral vision, and their impact on society — but we generally know little if anything about the spiritual sources that animated (and animate) their commitments to a larger good.

Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. His encouragement, combined with a stipend of $200 a month and a car from patron Charlotte Osgood Mason, allowed Hurston to complete much of her anthropological work in the American South. Born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, Hurston and her family soon moved to Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black incorporated town in the United States. God created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, in the Book of Genesis and gave them dominion over the Garden of Eden. Mary gave birth to Jesus. As Mary Daly, for example, wrote in 1973: “If God is male, then the male is God”. The case has since then escalated in severity. Good as New: A radical retelling of scripture, a 2003 translation of the New Testament by John Henson and the ONE Community for Christian Exploration, calls God “your parent” rather than “your father”. She speaks of the Trinity, usually described as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in these terms: “Our Father desires, our Mother operates and our good Lord the Holy Ghost confirms”.

In 1996, Gates of Repentance, the High Holy Day prayer book of Reform Judaism, was published, calling God “sovereign” instead of “king”, and “source” or “parent” instead of father. Christianity and Judaism, however, seem to be in the process of a major continuing realignment. However, it was in ancient Israel that a unique concept emerged – monotheism. She came across Hurston’s Mules and Men (1935), which ultimately led Walker to Their Eyes Were Watching God, the book she regards as the most important of her life. This ambition also led to tension in her romantic life. The female ones include spirits called Aletheia (Truth), and Zoe (Life), and Spiritus (Spirit), Ecclesia (Church), and Sophia (Wisdom). In 1975, in the US, Naomi Janowitz and Margaret Wenig produced a version of the prayer book Siddur Nashim which used female pronouns and images for God. To talk about God we have to call God something, and avoiding pronouns altogether is cumbersome, as I’ve just demonstrated again. He doesn’t have one, but – as that statement demonstrates – it’s hard to talk about God without giving God a gender.