FEMINIZATION of THE CHURCH - Vital Insights
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
The FEMINIZATION of the CHURCH
-Extracts by Leon J. Podles
You may have noticed that, in general, men are not as interested in
religion as women are. In fact, if men speak honestly, they will tell
you that men have a general feeling that the Church is for women.
They may add that women are more emotional than men are, or
that religion is a crutch that a man doesn't need.
In my book, 'The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity',
I examine the lack of men in the Western churches. In what follows
I will first summarize my thesis that men stay away from the Church
because they regard it as a threat to their hard-won masculinity.
Second, I will explore how the Church has become identified with
femininity. Third, I will consider how this feminization has
undermined fatherhood, and how the Church can reach men and
help them to be Christians and Christian fathers.
Sociologists have gathered statistics about both practice and
opinion, and the studies confirm the popular impression: religion,
especially of the Christian variety, is largely a feminine affair in
Western society. James H. Fichter asks, "Are males really less
religious than females? Most of the studies made on the question
seem to indicate that they are, and this appears to be true for all
the Christian churches, denominations, and sects in western civilization."
Of Americans in the mid-1990s, George Barna writes that ?women
are twice as likely to attend a church service during any given week.
Women are also 50 percent more likely than men to say they are
"religious" and to state that they are "absolutely committed" to the
Christian faith.? The differences seem to be increasing rapidly. In
1992, 43 percent of men attended church; in 1996, only 28 percent.
Church attendance in the United States is about 60 percent female
and 40 percent male. The more liberal the denomination, the higher
the percentage of females. Fundamentalists are almost evenly
divided, but the only religions that sometimes show a majority of
men are Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Judaism, Islam, and
Eastern religions such as Buddhism. Men say they believe in God
as much as women do, but the more Christian a practice or belief
becomes, the fewer men will own up to it.
Wherever Western Christianity has spread, the Church has become
feminized. Rosemary Reuther observes: "In Germany, France,
Norway, and Ireland women are 60 to 65 percent of the active
churchgoers. In Korea, India, and the Philippines, women are 65 to
70 percent of the active churchgoers." Anecdotal evidence indicates
that this pattern of greater female piety goes back far before the
Reformation. Even medieval preachers made reference to women
as being more active in the church.
A closer analysis of the sociological data shows that it is not
exactly being male or female that makes the difference, but being
masculine or feminine. That is, men who have feminine personality
characteristics tend to go to church far more often than other men
do. Women who have masculine personalities tend to go to church
less than other women do.
Masculinity & the Church
A man has... responsibilities in life; he takes up the dangerous
work of a society. He may work himself to death as a lawyer, or
get shot in war, or anything in between. Even in the United States,
men hold almost all the dangerous positions in our society, as
measured by the chance of death or serious injury. Only after he
earns his spurs as a man can the male reconnect to the world of
women by marrying and becoming the father of a family.
As a boy the male is protected and provided for; as a man he must
protect and provide for others, even at the cost of his own life...
Boys must learn to endure pain and suffer deprivation, so that they
will undertake the dangerous and destructive work that all societies have...
Western Christianity has become part of the feminine world from
which men feel they must distance themselves to attain masculinity.
That is why men stay away from church, especially when they see
that the men involved in church tend to be less masculine. The
most religious denominations, those that have the most external
display, have the worst reputation. Anglo-Catholics were lambasted
in the Victorian press as unmanly because they devoted themselves
to lace and plaster statues (in some cases, this criticism was
justified). Psychological studies have detected a connection
between femininity in men and interest in religion.
There may even be a physical difference. Among men, football
players and movie actors have the highest testosterone level,
ministers, the lowest. Success and self-esteem can even change
hormonal levels.
Why Is the Church "Feminine"? Is there something innately
feminine about Christianity? Many traditionalist Christians believe
this. But God became incarnate as a man, and Jesus' life follows
the classic masculine pattern of development...
As Christianity spread, it has provoked opposition, violence,
persecution, and murder, from the Crucifixion to the contemporary
Christians who are being crucified in the Sudan. This new people is
called to be holy and separate from the world. The age of the
martyrs and the Fathers, the first millennium, evinced no great
signs that Christianity was especially for women or that it was a
threat to masculinity.
Making Men into Christian Fathers
Men can be taught to be men only by other men, and all too many
pastors are not real men. A pastor called me about my book. He
had been ordained in the mainline Presbyterian Church. When he
entered the seminary, he had to take a battery of psychological
tests and talk to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist looked over the
tests, and the first question he asked the candidate was, "Are you
a homosexual?" The candidate responded, "No, I'm not, and why
do you ask?" The psychiatrist replied, "You have the psychological
profile of a homosexual. But don't worry, all the successful
ministers in your denomination have this profile." The problem, as
the minister realized after reading my book, is that pastors too
often become pastors because they enjoy working in a feminine
world, and they adopt the mental attitudes of women, who are their
principal audience. In men, such a psychological profile is effeminate.
Although obviously fatherhood is a fulfillment of manhood, it involves
a reconnection with the feminine, domestic world that men may
feel is a threat to their masculinity, or at least to that aspect of
masculinity that they achieved by rejecting feminine safety and
facing challenges and dangers. The role of protector or provider is
also a challenge, and a deeper one, that young men must take on
to avoid getting stuck in the stage of adolescent thrill-seeking. If
the young man does not experience Christianity as a threat to
his masculinity, he will more willingly accept its guidance in
becoming a father of a Christian household.
Christian fathers should instruct their sons, primarily by example.
Fathers should lead family prayers and read the Bible, and take the
lead in getting the family to church. Fatherhood should be stressed
in sermons as it is in the Bible. Much of the Old Testament is
instruction in how to be a father, and the father is of key importance
in the Christian household in the New Testament. Preach the whole
gospel, including the uncomfortable parts. Hell and damnation are
realities, and it does no one any good to forget them. Christianity is
a matter of infinite seriousness, far more serious than economics
or politics. Christianity can give the true initiation into the mysteries
of life and death, of heaven and hell, of spiritual warfare and the
destiny of the human race. Men need training in spiritual discipline,
and will think it worthwhile if they see the importance of Christianity.
The father's job is to separate his children from juvenile dependence
and send them out prepared for the battle of life...Christianizing our
culture. Anyone who has tried to do this knows that it is a battle
and that the Church needs more than just a few good men.
Original source-