During his visit to the United States, Pope Francis’ gentle and compassionate presence was authoritative without a punishing edge; he called us to take responsibility for the problems facing us as human beings. Specifically Francis challenged people to intentionally address our responsibility for climate change, for the oppressed living in poverty, and for displaced refugees.

My response to his call is to push the conversation forward by raising underlying questions about the foundational images of the world’s major religions which stand in the way of each of these challenges being addressed fully. Considering these questions might deepen our responses to the Pope’s challenges.

How does naming God almost exclusively as male, and imaging “Him” as omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful/almighty), and omnipresent (always present) contribute to the problems of climate change, poverty, refugees and religious fundamentalism? How is man’s (literally) treatment of the earth–often called Mother Earth and associated with the fecundity of the female–interwoven with the treatment of women as secondary citizens in most of the world? How does Christianity along with other faith expressions perpetuate this treatment of the Earth and of the oppressed peoples of the Earth by focusing on achieving eternal life in Heaven rather than on the quality of life on Earth? How has the image of a punishing Father God led to the subjugation of some people, particularly of women and their children, by men whose power over others has been sanctioned by male-dominated faith communities?

These are complex questions which lead on to further questions. My desire is to explore these questions and raise new ones in conversation with your responses.

I invite you to begin by pondering Mary Daly’s 1973 proclamation, “If God is male, then male is God.” As you consider her statement, I would like to slow down the discussion by inviting you to read my understanding of several Biblical stories of women in an eight-part occasional series “Biblical Stories of Women: Death dealing or Life Giving?” The original article upon which this series will expand appears under the tab DARING Faith.