Methodist Hymnal Now Reflects Goddess Theology                              

by Stuart Shepard, correspondent                                                     Vol. XIV, No. 8, September 2001

How would you react if, on a Sunday morning, you found yourself singing a hymn about “Mother God”? The troubling theology is found in a new hymnal published by the United Methodist Church.

The Methodist church that Mark Tooley attends in Northern Virginia – part of the United Methodist Church – recently bought some new hymnals called “The Faith We Sing.”

“One Sunday I happened to flip through it and found several hymns whose theology I thought was kind of distressing,” said Tooley, who also serves as executive director of the group United Methodist Action. The lyrics referred to God as “Mother, Brother, Holy Partner” and “strong Mother God.” Even, “Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth.” Tooley said this “goddess” theology has been debated in the United Methodist church since 1993.

“Whether people realize it or not, how they think of God is very much determined, or influenced by the hymns that they sing over the course of their lives,” Tooley said.

Ross Parsley, Worship Pastor at New Life Church, in Colorado Springs, agreed: “The content of our music, of our worship, is really teaching our congregations who God is, what He does, how He acts, His nature.” He said the scriptural depiction of God as Father teaches us something about the nature of His relationship with us.

“And if we want to worship God in spirit and truth like the Scriptures say, then we need to know who He is, know about Him, and learn about Him through ... our worship songs and through the Scriptures coming forth in a sermon,” Parsley said.

Tooley’s church, meantime, has glued a statement in each hymnal disavowing the questionable hymns. [BP]