ABSTRACT
In practicing a spirituality that attempts to build bridges between two religious traditions, Christianity and Goddess Spirituality, CGS women seek to create “a third thing out of two (or more) different things.” 1 As discussed earlier, the two traditions that CGS women attempt to integrate have typically been constructed as polar opposites, leaving practitioners caught in the middle, betwixt and between. In the second decade of the twentyfi rst century, CGS practitioners, like the women interviewed in Defecting in Place , experience the tug-of-war between Goddess Spirituality, on the one hand, and “mainstream” Christianity, on the other. Participants in the CGS study evidenced both familiarity and annoyance with these attitudes; however, compared with the women in Defecting in Place , the interviewees were able to express considerable confi dence in the legitimacy and sustainability of their chosen spiritual paths. This chapter will focus on some of the kinds of discrimination and misunderstanding experienced by CGS women and their ways of dealing with these reactions, from both Christians and Goddessians/Pagans, as well as presenting some of the reasons why some CGS women not only continue to self-identify as Christian, but even in the face of disapproval and disparagement, continue to go to church. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a subgroup of interview participants who are most likely to face discrimination and misunderstanding: clergy and seminarians.
