November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

The Goddess Myth

(Page 4 of 4)

November/December 1997
By Judith S. Antonelli, On the Issues (www.echonyc.com/~onissues/) 
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In Babylonian mythology, creation is described as a product of the murder of the goddess Tiamat by the god Marduk, who crushed her skull and "split her like a shellfish." He turned half of her body into the sky and the other half into the zenith.

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In spite of linguistic maleness, the God of the Hebrew Bible does not commit rape and incest, or create the universe through masturbation or the murder and mutilation of a female. As the first Hebrews, Abraham and Sarah's radical vision of one genderless God must have been a welcome relief from these pagan gods made in the image of abusive men.

The service of these gods was also primarily sexual, largely exploitative, and sometimes mutilating. The pagan temple was, in effect, the original brothel. The priestess of a goddess lived in the temple and was required to have ritual sex with any man willing to pay the fee. Similarly, the priest of a goddess was a transvestite eunuch who had ritual sex with men. Castration was the means by which these men were "dedicated" to the goddess The priest of a god was in charge of feeding the god with daily sacrifices and libations and honoring him with song, music, and incense. His was the only type of service that had no sexual component. The priestess of a god, in contrast, was required to have ritual sex at harvest festivals with kings, pharaohs, and emperors.

This, then, is the historical context of the Hebrew Bible. Its laws concerning marriage, divorce, adultery, rape, inheritance, slavery, and conduct in warfare reflect an already existing social reality. There's a difference between what the Bible actually says and what men and women say it says. What appears to be sexism in the Bible is nothing more than a reflection of the sexism that dominated Babylonian, Egyptian, and Canaanite societies in--Isis forgive us--the age of the Great Mother Goddess.

Excerpted from On the Issues, (Summer 1997)

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