The marvellous Bettany Hughes is back on telly this week, showing us that religion – Christianity especially – hasn’t always been the patriarchal institution it is today. In the Radio Times (and quoted by the Huffington Post), she wrote:

“Consider this: throughout the history of humanity, 97 per cent of all deities of wisdom have been female…Who knows whether God is a girl, but mankind has turned to the female of the species for good ideas. Our own monotheistic institutions might do well to take a leaf out of the book of human experience and build on this consensus when it comes to reaping the benefits of a close relationship between women and the divine.”

The series “Divine Women” starts at 9pm, BBC2, this Wednesday. Click here, or on the picture below, for a larger version of the text (and of Bettany’s beautiful face).