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The first article in this Pride Month series addressed the question, \u201cDid Gay People Steal the Rainbow from Christians?\u201d<\/strong> I looked at the rainbow in the Bible\u2014as a sign of covenant in Genesis<\/a><\/span>, divine glory in Ezekiel<\/a><\/span>, and heavenly majesty in Revelation<\/a><\/span>. I also argued that Christians should be careful about calling the rainbow \u201cours,\u201d especially when the strongest biblical rainbow images come from the Hebrew Bible\u2014the Jewish Tanakh.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s article, let\u2019s look beyond Judaism and Christianity and see the spectrum of meaning that rainbows have had for many religions and cultures.<\/strong> Rainbows have been seen as bridges, bows, messengers, signs of divine presence, symbols of creation, warnings, blessings, serpents, and pathways between worlds.<\/p>\n The rainbow never belonged to Christianity alone. It has always belonged to sky and storm, light and human imagination. Beyond the Jewish and Christian context mentioned in the first article, let\u2019s shed light on the rainbow\u2019s other meanings.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ever look into someone\u2019s eyes and notice the wide variety of colors, beyond one simple hue? The colored part of the eye is called the iris, which gets its name from the Greek word for rainbow. In fact, Iris is the name of the Greek rainbow goddess, who was also a divine messenger<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n While Greek and Hebrew cosmologies differed greatly, they overlap in the sense that the rainbow is a connection between heaven and earth.<\/strong> More than color in the sky, the rainbow is divine communication.<\/p>\n Long before modern Pride flags, and long before American evangelicals started treating the rainbow as if they owned it, people were already seeing it as a way humans can connect to the divine.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then you\u2019re familiar with Bifr\u00f6st, the bridge between the nine realms of Norse mythology.<\/strong>\u00a0 In Thor<\/a>, Thor: Ragnarok<\/a>, Avengers: Infinity War<\/a><\/span>, and Thor: Love and Thunder<\/a><\/span>, we meet Heimdall as the bridge\u2019s gatekeeper and see how heroes and villains travel between worlds. It\u2019s probably the most well-known example of the rainbow bridge that animal-lovers sometimes refer to when explaining pet deaths to children<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In Norse mythology, the bridge is a connector. It doesn\u2019t divide\u2014it unites.<\/strong> Stretching from heaven to earth, it brings together those who seem divided. It crosses the gap between those who are scared, and that which is sacred.<\/p>\n That is almost the opposite of how some Christians talk about the rainbow during Pride Month.<\/strong> They turn it into a fence, a boundary marker, a line in the sand that shouldn\u2019t be crossed. They treat it as a symbol of who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out, who may claim a connection to God and who\u2019s denied blessing.<\/p>\n But across cultures, the rainbow keeps showing up differently. It joins what we thought was separate.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In some Hindu traditions, the rainbow is linked to Indra, the god of storms, rain, thunder, and the sky.<\/strong> According to Religion Media Centre<\/a>,<\/span> the rainbow is also known as Indra\u2019s Bow.<\/p>\n Christian readers will immediately make the connection: Indra and the Hebrew God both have bows. In both cases, the rainbow is more than a celestial decoration. It is something powerful. But the meanings are not the same.<\/p>\n In Hinduism, Indra\u2019s Bow is associated with storm, rain, sky, divine power, and beauty.<\/strong> Judaism gives it similar meaning, but notes that God\u2019s bow is not pointed at the earth. This represents not a weapon ready to fire, but one that has been hung on its peg, set aside and not in use. The rainbow represents that divine destruction has been restrained.<\/p>\n In either case, the rainbow played a sacred role long before Christianity emerged onto the world scene.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We should be careful here, because, like Hinduism, Buddhism<\/a> is not one single thing. So, I do not want to say, \u201cBuddhism teaches that the rainbow means such-and-such,\u201d as if a whole world of thought could be summed up in one sentence.<\/p>\n But in some Tibetan Buddhist contexts, rainbows are associated with deep spiritual transformation. Lion\u2019s Roar<\/a><\/span> discusses the Tibetan term jalu<\/em>, which means \u201crainbow body,\u201d in connection with physical bodies of devotees dissolving into light.<\/strong> Seen as saintlike figures, those who undergo this transformation are described as evaporating into the various lights of the color spectrum.<\/p>\n This is quite different from the rainbow as seen in Genesis, Revelation, Greek or Norse mythology. But it is another example of humans seeing rainbow symbolism in something sacred. Here, the rainbow indicates luminosity and transformation. And, for many in the queer community who leave one way of being behind and step into a truer one, the rainbow becomes an apt symbol. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As with Hindu and Buddhist traditions, we must be careful because one cannot claim that all Aboriginal Australian traditions are the same. They differ according to place, people, and language.<\/p>\n Many Aboriginal Australian traditions speak of the Rainbow Serpent, a powerful sacred being connected with water, land, creation, rain, fertility, life, and danger. The Australian Museum shares Uncle Badger Bates\u2019s teaching<\/a><\/span><\/strong> that the Ngatyi, or Rainbow Serpents, are still with his people, make rain, \u201cblow the rainbow after the rain,\u201d and created water and country as they travelled.<\/p>\n For those who believe, these are not quaint tales but sacred beliefs that connect land, water, memory, and the identity of a people.<\/p>\n If someone says, \u201cGay people stole the rainbow from Christians,\u201d we must answer with another question: Which rainbow?<\/em> The rainbow of Genesis? Of Iris? Heimdall\u2019s Bifr\u00f6st? Indra\u2019s Bow? The rainbow body? The Rainbow Serpent? The rainbow has been doing sacred work far longer than Christians have supposed they owned it. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Across religions and cultures, the rainbow does not appear as a fence. <\/strong>Instead, it appears as a bridge, a message, a promise, a connection, and a sign of sacred power. That\u2019s why the conservative Christian claim that queer people \u201cstole\u201d the rainbow from Christians looks ridiculously small. It imagines it can shrink a massive, ancient, global symbol into one sub-culture\u2019s pocket so it can claim it as its own.<\/p>\n The problem comes when one group that claims the rainbow uses it as a weapon against another group that also identifies with it. The rainbow should not be a weapon of culture-war. Instead, it should be a symbol of divine presence big enough to include everyone.<\/p>\n In my next article, we\u2019ll look at how the rainbow became a Pride symbol\u2014not because someone stole or appropriated it, but because people needed an emblem of visibility, survival, and joy.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Christians can find meaning in the rainbow. The problem begins when we act like no one else is allowed to see it too. \u00a0 The first article in this Pride Month series addressed the question, \u201cDid Gay People Steal the Rainbow from Christians?\u201d I looked at the rainbow in the Bible\u2014as a sign of covenant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4628,"featured_media":8474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1302],"tags":[5486,5483,5477,5480,5492,5489],"class_list":["post-8471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays-and-special-days","tag-greek-goddess-iris","tag-indras-bow","tag-rainbow-bridge","tag-rainbow-serpent","tag-rainbow-symbolism","tag-rainbows-across-religions"],"yoast_head":"\nGreek Mythology: Iris, Messenger of the Gods<\/h2>\n
Norse Mythology: Bifr\u00f6st, the Rainbow Bridge<\/h2>\n
Hindu Traditions: Indra\u2019s Bow<\/h2>\n
Buddhist Traditions: Radiance and Transformation<\/h2>\n
Aboriginal Australian Traditions: The Rainbow Serpent<\/h2>\n
The Rainbow Is Not a Fence<\/h2>\n
If this article helped you see the rainbow as something larger, older, and more beautiful than a culture-war argument, I\u2019d love your support on Patreon<\/a><\/span>. Your support helps me keep writing about faith, justice, grace, and the stubborn hope that God\u2019s love is wider than our fences.<\/em><\/h3>\n
For related reading on Patheos, check out my other articles:<\/h3>\n
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