“Mother Earth”, the nourisher of all things, from the alchemistic work “Atalanta fugiens” (1618) by Michael Maier (image in public domain). MEDIA SOURCE |
Can you you believe in no God or gods but still "personify" nature and develop art in attribution to it ? We might not bow our heads or have statues and pray anymore but we act according to our right and wrong precepts. The art, images, etc of Mother Nature are just like statues, ways to communicate ethics(a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures). Whether you bow to it or pray to it is trivial, but has it become a part of or your entire identity, effectively altering moral precept. If it has to then it may be your god. An example of nature's ethics infiltrating ethics is social darwinism. It may seem harmless but if you recognize the term "survival of the fittest" in its popular use, it is a term that is contrary to Christ's teaching who said blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. I'm not sure how cut throat business practices by the strong to the detriment of the weak competition is loving your neighbor as yourself.
Insulting someones belief in a God the Father while praising the belief in mother earth is ludicrous and offensive to what is good. It is simply a form of bigotry and ignorance relating to the mechanisms which govern the hearts and minds of humanity.
If one was interested in the social structures(patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals) associated to God, gods and personifications of nature simple refer to history and you might see a pattern emerge. Examples below taken from wikipedia and britannica.
Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth) is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother.
Ba'al designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility.
You believe in your gods and I'll believe in mine.