About a decade ago, there were rumblings throughout the Methodist church about a new aspect of ¿" spirituality." Honestly, I was a little young to remember the specifics but there were a group of likeminded people ¿"out west somewheres" (west of Ohio, where I was at the time) that were taking a new view of the sexuality of God.
Somehow, this is where ¿God the Mother got some of the grounded foundation that began to grow in popularity. In college we had a Chapel Dean who would refer to God as "Her." It never really bothered anyone enough to do anything about it. My circle of friends just agreed that it wasn't what we were used to and sounded somehow foreign, yet in the truth of the matter God was genderless at God's core, so you could potentially refer to God as you chose.
The problem with all this arises when people, who are far less comfortable with their perception of God being altered, are confronted with the notion of God the Mother. Or, conversely, when an overzealous feminist latches onto the term in order to shove the female persona in the faces of a male dominated religion.
Unfortunately, I've had the displeasure of dealing with both types.
