A deity protected by father's temple (6)
I believe the answer is:
pagoda
'temple' is the definition.
(pagoda is a kind of temple)
'a deity protected by father's' is the wordplay.
'deity' becomes 'god' ('god' can be a synonym of 'deity'**).
'protected by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa is a kind of father).
'a'+'god'='agod'
'agod' placed inside 'pa' is 'PAGODA'.
(Other definitions for pagoda that I've seen before include "Pyramidal temple with an upward curving roof" , "Asian temple with upward curving roof" , "religious structure" , "Pyramid-shaped Hindu temple" , "Eastern temple, usually a tower" .)