The Council for Religious Understanding (CRU) has finished planning its biggest event this semester, a two-night conference that explores the Gendering of God. The discussions will take place on Thursday April 4 and Thursday April 11 in the Chapel at 8 p.m.

CRU, an organization that is in its second year of existence, developed the idea of having a discussion on the gender of God early in February. Like all of the events sponsored by this group, the conference aims at voicing many faiths’ perspectives on a given subject so that the people present can learn about other faith traditions.

The focus of this conference is to learn about the ways in which many faith traditions gender their deities.

“We’re not trying to find a consensus on what the gender of God is,” Catherine Neuschler ’02 said.

The idea of having a Gendering God discussion stems from the notion that many religions assign a gender to the higher power they worship. “I think that God is beyond gender, but we are human and therefore limited,” said Anisa Kintz ’05. “We assign a gender to God in order to understand such a vast power in our own terms.”

The organizers of this event hope that the conference will shed light on various religious traditions, and make people aware of the implications gendering a deity might have on the day to day interactions of the faithful.

“I am agnostic, so I hope to find out how the gender of God affects people of those faiths in interpersonal relations,” Mike Ring ’04, one of the event’s organizers, said.

Kathleen Cook ’03, co-chair of CRU and a Religious Studies major, said it is imperative to have discussions on the historical construction of the gender of God because “you need to understand the past to understand the present. The gender of God is a dialogue going on in many faiths right now, especially as it relates to the ordination of women.” She sees the dialogue as an important one for secular groups as well, because “so much of our present language is handed down to us through religious antecedents.”

Furthermore, Cook said, “the movement for women’s ordination in many Protestant Churches in the U.S. precedes women’s suffrage and is closely intertwined with it.”

CRU has invited speakers from both on and off campus. Many Mac students will recognize Joi Lewis, the associate dean of students, Classics Professor Nannette Scott Goldman, and Macalester Chaplain Lucy Forster-Smith. Barbara Foster will represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Hamline University Religion Professor Mark Berkson will discuss Islam, and Roya Majid will touch upon the gender of God in the Baha’i Faith. Joel Creswell ’02 and Kathleen Cook ’03 will moderate the discussions.

For further information, contact Bequis Christensen, rchristensen@mac-alester.edu or Kathleen Cook, kcook@macalester.edu.