Gender of God
The gender of God can be viewed as a literal or as an allegorical aspect of a deity. In polytheistic religions, gods are more likely to have literal sexes which would enable them to sexually interact with each other, and even with humans.
In most monotheistic religions, one cannot apply a gender to God in the usual sense, as God's attributes cannot be compared to those of any other being. Thus, the idea of a "divine gender" is ultimately considered an analogy, used by humans in order to better relate to the concept of God, with no sexual connotation.
God is an intangible spirit in most religions and is therefore thought to have no gender. The preponderance of references to God in both the Old and New Testaments are in the context of a masculine reference, often "Father". However, there are a significant number of feminine allegorical references to God, most often in some maternal role.
Abrahamic religions
In the Hebrew and Christian Bible, God is usually figuratively imagined in male terms in Biblical sources, with female analogy in Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 123:2-3, and Luke 15:8-10; a mother in Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2; and a mother hen in Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34.Michael Coogan offers his own interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27, according to which the verses say that the elohim were male and female, and humans were made in their image. This hints at the idea that Ancient Hebrews worshiped a godly pair, Yahweh and his wife Asherah, the "elohim", a plural noun, originally meaning the Canaanite pantheon.
Judaism
Although the gender of God in Judaism is referred to in the Tanakh with masculine imagery and grammatical forms, traditional Jewish philosophy does not attribute the concept of sex to God. At times, Jewish aggadic literature and Jewish mysticism do treat God as gendered. The ways in which God is gendered have also changed across time, with some modern Jewish thinkers viewing God as outside of the gender binary.Christianity
Most Christian groups conceive of God as Triune, believing that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are distinct persons, but one being that is wholly God.God the Son, having been incarnated as a human man, is masculine. Classical western philosophy believes that God lacks a literal sex as it would be impossible for God to have a body. However, Classical western philosophy states that God should be referred to as masculine by analogy; the reason being God's relationship with the world as begetter of the world and revelation. Others interpret God as neither male nor female.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Book 239, states that God is called "Father", while his love for man may also be depicted as motherhood. However, God ultimately transcends the human concept of sex, and "is neither man nor woman: he is God."
In contrast to most other Christian denominations, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit are physically distinct while being one in purpose. The LDS Church also teaches that God the Father is married to a divine woman, referred to as "Heavenly Mother." Humans are considered to be spirit children of these heavenly parents.
The Holy Spirit
In Hebrew language, in rabbinic literature, the divine presence of God, the Holy Spirit, the Shekhinah is feminine.The New Testament also refers to the Holy Spirit as masculine in a number of places, where the masculine Greek word "Paraclete" occurs, for "Comforter", most clearly in the Gospel of John, chapters 14 to 16. These texts were particularly significant when Christians were debating whether the New Testament teaches that the Holy Spirit is a fully divine person, or some kind of "force." All major English Bible translations have retained the masculine pronoun for the Spirit, as in John 16:13. Although it has been noted that in the original Greek, in some parts of John's Gospel, the neuter Greek word for "it" is also used for the Spirit.
Islam
The oneness of God is of primary importance in the Quran and Islam. In Qur'an, Allah is most often referred to with the pronouns Hu or Huwa, and although these are commonly translated as ;him', they can also be translated gender-neutrally, as 'them.' This is also true of the feminine equivalent, Hiya. Qur'an 112:3–4 states: "He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him ."Other references include the first person pronoun, and the relative pronoun ma, as in the phrase "the heavens and that which created them".
Indian religions
Hinduism
In Hinduism, there are diverse approaches to conceptualizing God and gender. Many Hindus focus upon impersonal Absolute which is genderless. Other Hindu traditions conceive God as androgynous, alternatively as either male or female, while cherishing gender henotheism, that is without denying the existence of other Gods in either gender.The Shakti tradition conceives of God as a female. Other Bhakti traditions of Hinduism have both male and female gods. In ancient and medieval Indian mythology, each masculine deva of the Hindu pantheon is partnered with a feminine who is often a devi.
The oldest of the Hindu scriptures is the Rigveda. The first word of the Rigveda is the name Agni, the god of fire, to whom many of the vedic hymns are addressed, along with Indra the warrior. Agni and Indra are both male divinities.
The Rigveda refers to a creator, distinct from Agni and Indra. This creator is identified with Brahma, born of Vishnu's navel, in later scriptures. Hiranyagarbha and Prajapati are male divinities, as is Brahma.
There are many other gods in the Rigveda.
They are "not simple forces of nature," and possess "complex character and their own mythology."
They include goddesses of water and dawn, and the complementary pairing of Father Heaven and Mother Earth.
However, they are all "subservient to the abstract, but active positive 'force of truth' …which pervades the universe and all actions of the gods and humans."
This force is sometimes mediated or represented by moral gods or even Indra.
The Āditya are male and Ṛta is personified as masculine in later scriptures.
In some Hindu philosophical traditions, God is depersonalized as the quality-less Nirguna Brahman, the fundamental life force of the universe. However, theism itself is central to Hinduism.
While many Hindus focus upon God in the neutral form, Brahman being of neuter gender grammatically, there are prominent Hindu traditions that conceive God as female, even as the source of the male form of God, such as the Shakta denomination. Hinduism, especially of the Samkhya school, views the creation of the cosmos as the result of the play of two radically distinct principles: the feminine matter and the masculine spirit. Prakṛti is the primordial matter which is present before the cosmos becomes manifest. Prakṛti is seen as being "the power of nature, both animate and inanimate. As such, nature is seen as dynamic energy". Prakriti is originally passive, immobile and pure potentiality by nature. Only through her contact with the kinetic Purusha she unfolds into the diverse forms before us. The idea of Prakṛti/Purusha leads to the concept of the Divine Consort. Almost every deva of the Hindu pantheon has a feminine consort.
Sikhism
The Guru Granth consistently refers to God as "He" and "Father". However, it also says that God is indescribable. Thus, God in Sikhism has no gender. The Akal Purakh is referred to as one of the gender, simply because the Granth is written in north Indian Indo-Aryan languages which have no neutral gender.Such is described as energy that prevails throughout the universe.