1. Theologian Mary Daly writes: "The Biblical and popular image of God as a great patriarch in heaven...has dominated the imagination of millions over thousands of years. They symbol of the Father God, spawned in the human imagination and plausible by patriarchy, has in turn rendered service to this type of society by making its mechanisms for the oppression of women appear right and fitting."

Discuss Daly's claim that the identification of God as male is oppressive to women. Discuss whether we should change the language used in religious texts and services to gender-neutral language in light of the role language plays in shaping our worldviews. NOTE: We are not talking about changing the language simply because women are offended by it (because we have no idea if that's even true); we are talking about changing the language due to how important language is in shaping our worldview...would changing the language to something more gender-neutral benefit how women view themselves, how they view the world, and how the world views them?