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Originally Posted by somerfrost
Again, many of the world's religions don't view the supreme being as either male or female! In Wicca, the supreme being is usually referred to as "The One"...mankind can't comprehend anything about this being, so...neither male or female and no claim that we are "in his/her/it's image". Very (probably overly) simply stated, the One IS the universe(s)...the One created the universe(s) and it/they are a part of the One. For us to better comprehend, it is taught that certain elements of the One (elements that we would characterize as male and female) are worshiped...they are usually referred to as the Lord and the Lady or the God and the Goddess. They are part of the One...much like the Christian "holy trinity". In addition, many Wiccans/Witches pray to additional gods and goddesses (many associated with ancient Egyptian and Greek Deities) HOWEVER they are all believed to be part of the ONE. Because certain feminine characteristics are so highly revered, many covens and individual Wiccans/Witches favor the Goddess however there are also many who pray equally to both and some who favor the God. It is recognized that this "breakdown" is done to accommodate the human limits of comprehension...in Wicca, there is one supreme being and that being is the same supreme being worshipped by all the world's religions that recognize one supreme being...they just use different names and have created different mythologies.
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That is pretty much right on the money regarding the generally accepted view of Divinity in Wicca. You're a amart guy, Somer, but you know that already.
And yes, pgardn, you're correct in Christianity viewing God as male, and in Islam and Judaism for that matter-- remember, the three Western faiths all worship the EXACT SAME God, which is one reason I find it so fascinating that they fight each other all the time. But a lot of Americans have trouble wrapping their minds around that-- I have a dear friend in Florida, who, in the wake of 9/11 was flipping out at the prospect of Moslems invading and forcing her to pray to Allah, who she didn't believe in. I tried explaining to her that Allah is exactly the same entity as the Christian God-- that the main difference between Jews, Christians and Moslems is over who the prophet/messiah was, but she wouldn't buy it. Sigh.