Here are some excerps from a great book I just read called "Shattering the Crystal Face of God" M.L. Fischer
From the chapter "Big Daddy Religion " :
"I call Western religion "Big Daddy" for a couple of reasons. Obviously, God the father comes to mind: a male, judgemental,disciplinarian. About 6 thousand years ago he showed up to dethrone the Goddess and to relegate her to cooking and cleaning the halls of heaven and birthing the occasional messiah.
While the Goddess was the universal mother, dispensing unconditional love upon all her creations, the Big Daddy demanded obedience, worship, and some form of sacrifice. If you crossed him you would feel his wrath. Unlike the Goddess, Big Daddy played favorites. He had chosen people, influenced the outcome of wars and was definitely partial to his own gender.
But where did this bearded, cigar-smoking, gruff-voiced, fist pounding deity come from?"
He then gives a lengthy explanation of the idea that nomadic tribes had a patriarch who had all the women and the money. These patriarchs began to get insecure in their position because of the young bucks coming along. So...
"These old guys, every bit as smart as todays politicians, found the obvious solution. They found a deity who was one of their own, a good 'ol boy.With a god they could play poker and watch the game with, their position was secure, as it still is for the most part.
The good 'ol boys put their heads together and wrote a book about how things work and for whom, and they called it the Old Testosteronement."
"The religious folks have tried to get a monopoly on morality. As I understand it, morality has to do with dealing with people in a just and ethical manner. However the Big Daddy people always seem to bring it back to sex. These folks are obsessed with sex. Perhaps they're not getting laid and are pissed off that other people are. Whatever the reason, these proponents of Big Daddy religion equate morality with sex, which is a stretch. Sex only becomes a moral issue if it is coercive or deceptive. Moral issues don't apply when it comes to consensual sex."
And in another chapter he discusses his love of the Big Sur area in California.
"When the Judeo-Christian father figure god shows up in Big Sur, he is sent packing, with his muddy shoes, smelly cigar and loud, grumbling voice. He is too gruff and irksome. He startles the deer, makes the delicate ferns droop, and muddies the pristine tide pools. He is far more suited to board rooms, the halls of congress, the sanctimonious houses of worship. Let the old fart stay up in heaven, where nothing changes, nothing grows, nothing dies, and nothing matures. Let him keep heaven for I want no part of it's cold porcelain beauty."