For all you fans of Man Church, there’s another church joining in on the machismo craze. If you want to grunt and cheer and feel guilty about lusting after ladies or being a lazy dad, there’s a Christian “Men’s Conference” down in Texas you might be interested in!
The Men’s Conference is 24 hours of testosterone fueled MAN STUFF. Combining intensity, entertainment, teaching and worship; it’s the kind of weekend that will make you high five a total stranger!
Do you think they’d high five an atheist or just body slam him on the mat?
[Hat tip Friendly Atheist]
photo by Steve Rhodes
I read some shocking facts about rape in the United states from Ms. Magazine:
- The FBI’s definition of “forcible rape” in their Uniform Crime Report (UCR): “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” [PDF]
- What that definition leaves out: anal, oral and statutory rape; incest; rape with an object, finger or fist; rape of men
- Number of men raped in any year, according to the UCR: 0 [PDF]
- Estimated number of men actually raped each year, according to the Dept. of Justice: 93,000 [PDF]
Some of the most offensive facts:
Percentage of rape reports deemed “unfounded” by New Orleans police in 2008: 60 percent
Percentage of rape reports deemed “unfounded” by Baltimore police in 2009: 32 percent
Percentage of actual estimated false rape reports in any given year according to research studies: 2-8 percent
What a Philadelphia police officer once called his city’s sex crimes unit: “The lying bitches unit.”
Read more here.
There is a petition available asking the FBI to modernize the definition of rape. Sign it here.
I was a victim. I deserve to be counted.
Check out a previous post about preventing rape and one about rape in the Bible.
photo by See-ming Lee
Is church too touchy-feely for you? Are there too many songs? Are the talks too long and too boring? Do you need a donut break from all those women? How about a church service just for men?
What is Man Church? Man Church is church the way a man expects it to be done. No singing, short sermon, time to talk with other guys, no women present, and coffee and donuts. That’s the way men want to do church. The topics of discussion will have a definite manly focus – being the best possible husband, father, employee, leader – being a real man. In fact, every aspect of Man Church is geared for men – not like any other church you have seen. This ain’t your mama’s church!
These apes guys apparently can’t handle creative expression, women, music, or big words. If I were male, I’d be insulted that my church leadership thinks I am an emotionless, simple-minded grunt who doesn’t crave depth of study and a song once in a while. This sounds fast food instead of a full course meal.
Notice how all of the selling points for “Man Church” exclude anything that appears remotely homosexual. No surprise, coming from a Christian church, but it still blatantly ignores men who don’t fit into this grunting, emotionless, impatient mold. Machismo is one of my hot-button issues, and “Man Church” really grinds my nerves.
I think we need to watch a little Tim Allen to understand these “manly men”:
Home Improvement never gets old to me 
.
From PEP #192, April 1966
The evangelical magazine Christianity Today (which I’ve mentioned quite a bit) published an article titled “Woman As Folly” about the many curious Bible passages about women as possessions, being below or weaker than men turning women away from Christianity and god:
… “I think men are more aware than women of their tendency to sin,” one of the men suggested. “Maybe they can use this wisdom to help guide their wives.”
I couldn’t believe this was being discussed as a legitimate idea.
“Don’t they understand?” I said [to my husband]. “These sort of misconceptions—the idea that Christianity subjugates women—drive people away from the church.”
I wondered what he thought was so clear—that women bear a greater burden for the fall of man? “If I wasn’t a Christian,” I said, “these comments about women would turn me away from God.”
I wanted to deconstruct the ideas that were chipping away at my confidence in the Creator, but I felt outmatched. Among the men in our group, conversations often felt like a Scripture-quoting duel. Each time a new passage was referenced, I had the same question: What’s the context? Their response was nearly always a puzzled look. It was as if I’d just suggested we tear out pages from our Bibles and fold them into paper airplanes. Scripture, they reminded me, is inerrant.
This woman is starting to see sense. You can almost feel the warmth of the light bulb glowing brightly above her head.
Could this be the birth of a feminist? A liberated woman who realizes her entire religion has been anti-woman for 2000+ years? Maybe she could actually re-consider her belief in a god who would use authors with misogynistic values to be its voice?
But no. She can’t doubt god or the Bible. She has to pound the square peg into the round hole any way she can. So she goes looking for a comforting justification for the sexist teachings in her holy book.
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