I just finished (blush) the last of the very terrible Jean Auel series. She suggests that the beginings of the male god image came from men deciding to take control of female reproduction.
I have thought that the impulse toward the supernatural is an inborn thing that some brains have and some don't, and that it is related to feelings rather than logic.
My interest in religion and politics has more to do with the male image of god - surely counter-intuitive, since reproduction is a female thing. So is co-operation, something the female brain is more given to than the male.
I had presumed that the male god image was the product of the warrior cultures, and that they would overcome the more peaceful goddess cultures in battle, and, incidentally, produce a power-centered rather than cooperation centered form of government.
I have read many fairly early pieces which seem to refer to a time of conflict. For instance, the Christian bible, which refers to the snake - symbol of the goddess - as evil, and the Authurian tales, which refer to the battle between the new way, represented by Gwenevere, and the old way, represented by Morgana in which Morgana is represented as evil. There are, of course, many references between the two, but the number of centuries represented suggest that it took a very long time for the male god image to become pre-eminent.
Spoke to spouse, who believes that the male god image is all about a stronger male, envious of the more magical female, choosing to own the females, and the female magic. I guess it all sounds like part of a pattern, but is the left and right leaning government which, in the USA, can't even speak to each other part of the same pattern?
Is it all ownership - cooperation as a basic battle?