Is God a Woman?
By Jennifer Pierce
As a Unificationist woman, I often think about what that means.
Since 2012, the global Unificationist movement has been led by a woman, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, also known as Mother Moon. In the Unificationist community, this has been a huge change from her husband’s leadership. She applies a more feminine touch to our larger movement.
Heavenly Parent
Most notably, Mother Moon has shifted our language on God from “Heavenly Father” to “Heavenly Parent.”
“We must change the names we use. When we pray to God, from now on, please change what you say to ‘Heavenly Parent’...The first words you say when you pray should be ‘Heavenly Parent.’”
By naming God as Heavenly Parent, it includes both feminine and masculine aspects of God. To Unificationists, Heavenly Parent is the encapsulation of fatherly and motherly affection, because it is from God that all people, both man and woman, were created. We’re not the only religious group wondering the same thing.
This inclusion is shifting our entire understanding of God and of women.
Not to break any new ground here, but being a woman is hard. I feel like there’s so much we come up against as women. There are unnecessary challenges to our identity. Things like menstruation are taboo even though it happens to half of the world’s population. As most of history and society were shaped by men, it feels like we’re still struggling to find a place to fit in.
Growing up, I rejected traditionally feminine things because I felt like they took away from who I was and made me less than. But there is something divine in being a woman regardless of how feminine you are, and Heavenly Parent was my ticket to understanding that.
I embrace a lot more of the feminine things about myself now because it’s more real and fun. Because I have realized that being feminine isn’t less – it’s just different.
God is the Sum Total
I think that’s the value of having God be both masculine and feminine. It’s not like I, as a woman, don’t have masculine traits. And men aren’t shut out from being feminine. God is the sum total of all traits, and that makes both divine.
I think society as a whole is missing so much by denying women and feminine expressions of life into public spaces and places of influence. To use an insular example, having Mother Moon lead the Unificationist movement has highlighted these differences and what, I felt, was missing from our movement.
“It’s not a men vs. women problem. It’s a men and women problem. ”
We Need Women’s Leadership
In her Forbes article, “Why the World Needs More Women in Leadership,” Raisa Ghazi, Award-Winning Global Public Speaker on Women’s Leadership & Inclusive Leadership and SER TopWoman & Columnist, says women tend to be risk-averse, community-driven, and are more likely to make ethical decisions in leadership.
Ghazi states, “But we also need more women because they account for half of the world's population… In the end, women's leadership is not just about anticipating trends… It's about leaving untapped potential behind simply because we used to believe women were incapable of making sound decisions.”
It’s a Men and Women Problem
Where should we go from here? I think we’ve made a lot of strides, but I think there is more to do to give women the platform to express themselves and share what they have to offer. It’s not a men vs. women problem. It’s a men and women problem.
In Unificationist teaching, the feminine and masculine aspects of God are inseparable and unable to be removed from Heavenly Parent’s heart. I think we, as a society, would do better if we followed that example.
