[Dialogue] Omaha.com Story from Jim Rippey

[jimripsr@qwest.net]

Jim Rippey has sent you a message:

Two excerpts: ... (David) Murrow, a 1983 Baylor University graduate and the author of "Why Men Hate Going to Church," contends that the modern church is too chatty, too touchy-feely and full of hokey rituals that don''t affirm a guy''s manhood. In short, the faith needs a testosterone shot.... Although the number of "tough guy" Christ quotes in the Bible outnumber those of "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" by a 5-to-1 ratio, Murrow said the "soft savior" is the one being preached in most churches.
.... ( However) Muscular, militant models for the faith arouse the suspicion of (others including) John Wood, a retired Baylor religion professor. "Since our nation has progressively moved toward a much more martial mentality since 9/11, Christians need to abandon military imagery when speaking about the role of the church in the world," Wood said.  The strong drift toward identifying Christianity, particularly the right-wing version, with patriotism denies the brotherly unity all Christians should seek, he said."


---------- Beginning of Story ----------

Published August 6, 2005

Views varied on 'calling the church back to men'

BY TERRI JO RYAN
COX NEWS SERVICE


WACO, Texas - Ask David Murrow what's wrong with modern Christianity in America and he will fire off a litany:

• The typical U.S. congregation draws an adult crowd that is 61 percent female, 39 percent male - a gender gap that shows up in all age categories.

• There are 13 million more adult women than men in U.S. churches on any given Sunday.

• Inner church leadership tends to be mostly female, even in churches that have ordained male leadership, according to a 1999 study by Christianity Today magazine.

• Ninety percent of boys raised in church will abandon it before their 18th birthday.

• Five out of six American men call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday.

Murrow, a 1983 Baylor University graduate and the author of "Why Men Hate Going to Church," contends that the modern church is too chatty, too touchy-feely and full of hokey rituals that don't affirm a guy's manhood. In short, the faith needs a testosterone shot.

Several Waco-area pastors said Murrow is not alone in his assessment that modern churches are the domain of women.

"Tough, earthy working guys rarely come to church," he said.

These unpolished men don't fit in with the quiet, introspective gentlemen who populate the church today, he added.

Religion professor Sharon Dowd of Baylor said the male spirituality movement is far from new.

"Everybody knows that churches have been female-heavy at least since the beginning of the 20th century, if not before. Way back to the '50s there were various attempts at 'manly' Christianity."

Protestant clergy for decades have known that men considered churches impractical and overly emotional, preferring their all-male civic enclaves for doing good works, she noted.

The movement for Christian men to reclaim 11 a.m. Sunday as "masculine space" has been building for a long time, Murrow said.

Although the number of "tough guy" Christ quotes in the Bible outnumber those of "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" by a 5-to-1 ratio, Murrow said the "soft savior" is the one being preached in most churches.

While Islam - the fastest-growing faith in the world by most accounts - is preaching the great struggle between good and evil, the holy journey of a lifetime and fanatical allegiance, he said, "we're showing little boys 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild,' on a flannel board, holding a lamb."

The '50s and '60s were the golden era of mainline churches, Murrow noted.

But in the '70s, younger men started to withdraw from churches. Women had taken over churches, "leaving undeniable fingerprints of femininity" on their dealings, he charged.

Murrow said that although many people are calling men back to church, "I am calling the church back to men."

So, what do women think of his premise? He asserts that 50 percent of the women who have read his book or heard him speak agree that American churches largely have neutered men.

"Praise and worship services are 20 to 30 minutes of love songs to Jesus Christ in words no man would say to another," he said.

Two Waco men have made it their mission to help other men find God in the wilderness through spiritual retreats they have modeled on the 2001 "Wild at Heart" book by evangelical author John Eldredge.

John Hall and David Brown modeled Warrior Heart Ministries on Eldredge's premise: that men were created to be wild, to take chances and to act when God calls them to act even as modern society calls them to be tame, predictable and reliable and to reason things out before acting on anything.

Hall, a corporate trainer, and Brown, who runs his own payroll business, take men out to a 240-acre ranch "to come together to spend time in the undisturbed presence of God and to realize their true place in God's Kingdom and in His army," their Web site says.

Hall said the retreat resembles boot camp - an approach the men said involves "no war paint and no Kumbaya."

The biggest difference between Warrior Heart and other male spirituality programs is that the message of men retrieving their Bible-mandated family leadership role is meant to be taken out into the world.

"We do encourage men to come with a buddy, for accountability and to share with and support each other," said Brown, a Moody, Texas, native who was raised a Southern Baptist.

Hall, a former Roman Catholic from Great Britain who now attends a Baptist church in Waco, said men "seek a renewing of the heart and seek adventure. The Bible at its core is an adventure story, with quests, battles, beauty to rescue and innocence to be protected."

The movement is not novel.

In October 2003, Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, told an audience of 1,300 that the nation's greatest problem was "a war against boys" that produced a generation of fathers disconnected from their sons.

Little boys, Patterson said, need three things: a dog, a gun and a dad. "Not a little yip dog" nor a "play gun" but what "real men" would take pride in owning.

But such a remark "makes me suspicious of gender-based Christianity," said the Rev. Raymond Bailey, pastor of Waco's Seventh & James Baptist Church. "The church needs man and woman created equally in the divine image who strive to reflect Christ.

"I certainly favor any movement that will enhance 'male spirituality,' but my Bible does not distinguish spirituality or discipleship in sexist terms. I have not observed in our church any diminishing of male leadership or spirituality."

Muscular, militant models for the faith also arouse the suspicion of John Wood, a retired Baylor religion professor. "Since our nation has progressively moved toward a much more martial mentality since 9/11, Christians need to abandon military imagery when speaking about the role of the church in the world," Wood said.

The strong drift toward identifying Christianity, particularly the right-wing version, with patriotism denies the brotherly unity all Christians should seek, he said.

Jon Singletary, assistant professor of social work at Baylor, said he also is wary of movements that seem to see any gain by women in church-place equality as threats to men.

In his study of Promise Keepers, a conservative Christian men's movement of the 1990s that combined Super Bowl-style fervor and revival meeting substance in male-only stadium rallies, Singletary observed the national trend of pumping up men by putting down women.

"They saw a need to restore the stereotypical male characteristics while denying the value of traditionally female traits," he said.

But the Rev. Ronnie Holmes, pastor of Bellmead's Church of the Open Door, contends that for too long men have abdicated their role of being the head of the home and church.

"I do not mean dictatorship," Holmes said. "I mean the one taking responsibility for the well-being of his family and others within his sphere. . . . Men, don't send your wife and kids to church - lead them there." 
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroomCopyright ©2005 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or distributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.

---------- End of Story ----------