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In his book The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity [Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing, 1999], Leon J. Podles asks some insightful questions: Why is the Church filled mostly with women? What is it about the faith that attracts far more females than males? Podles, a Catholic historian, explores reasons why the Christian Faith began to be feminized in the post-New Testament era then discusses the consequences of a religion that alienates men. Podles argues that the medieval emphasis on the "heart," on virginity as the highest spiritual goal, on bridal mysticism (marriage to Jesus), adoration of the Virgin Mary, and rejection of everything masculine has all distorted the original biblical revelation and led to trivialization and a dangerous weakening of the Church. He suggests it also contributes to the rampant homosexuality among priests, as he witnessed himself as a boy in Catholic schools. All of this is in contrast to biblical Hebraic Faith (Ancient Judaism), in which strong but caring patriarchs led the people of God. Podles sees similar patterns among conservative Protestants. For example, he believes the Promise Keepers mens' movement, begun in the United States, draws males into a feminized form of revivalist evangelicalism. Podles points out that American revival movements have traditionally contained a strong emphasis on "the heart" with emotional appeals to return to God. Not surprisingly, women were often the first to respond to such messages and in far larger numbers. This heart emphasis matches a statement by PK founder Bill McCartney that males "were created to be in a love affair with Jesus . . . ; Scripture tells us the only way to please God is to be passionately in love with Jesus Christ" [B. McCartney, Go the Distance: The Making of a Promise Keeper (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1996), p. 13]. [It needs to be said that in the Bible, the heart is the seat of the mind, rationality, imagination, conviction, and determined faith in God. It is not the organ of emotion, sentimentality or intuitiveness. Christianity is off the biblical track in the way it uses this word.] [Top] Leon Podles's insights can be extended to other contemporary Protestant and Jewish, since feminizing forces are evident among them too. These are some of my personal observations: Visit a Bible book store and note its marketing techniques, its top ten best-seller list, its ambient fragrances and background music, and its array of what Frankie Schaeffer once called "Jesus Junk." It's nearly all aimed at women and adolescent girls. In other public venues, note how often music performances are the big draw at church services and evangelistic outreaches — emotionally stirring music performed by professional musicians and at times sensually-dressed singers and dancers. (A young man once said to me that his choice of a congregation was based on the "worship music" they provided.) Attend services at some churches, where the prevailing worship program consists of fanned emotions and submissiveness to a domineering (male or female) alpha-leader who dispenses an invading Spiritual power to the attendees. Passivity, emotional and bodily feeling, and uncritical thinking are the norm. This yielding feminine mindset is promoted and exploited within the sphere of Spiritanity. [Consider the protest entitled Spiritual Autism (PDF).] Other the other hand, some observers describe an aggressive, manipulative feminine spirit in the church as "the Jezebel Spirit." This spirit seeks domination and control of weak-willed men. [Top] Similarly, liberal mainline Protestants tend to extol feminine virtues and disdain masculine ones. They praise peace-making with demogogues and tyrants. But they denounce strength, courage and self-sacrifice in war — unless the "war" is for the advancement of feminine or select, faddish causes. [Review the recent book by Kathleen Parker entitled Save the Males at Amazon.] They promote non-gendered sexual values acceptable to radical feminist and homosexual ideologies. But they inconsistently repudiate the male gender. And they ignore lifting up demeaned, identity-robbed minority men — as men — while they aggrandize minority women as women. They affirm an effeminate, politically-Left Jesus and an emasculated, maternal Godhead. (It's forbidden in some churches and seminaries to say "God the Father.") The Blessed Virgin Mary is becoming an object of special interest, if not devotion, in some non-Catholic groups. [In contrast, women in the Bible aren't passive, emotional push-overs who submit to anything or everyone because they can't think or are emotionally handicapped. Of course, women throughout history who lived outside the sphere of Biblical Faith have been overly "feminized" and exploited as objects by tyrannical men — contrary, I believe, to the Creator's intent and the teachings of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.] The same phenomenon is occurring in liberal Jewish circles, and Jewish men are fleeing Feminized Judaism. A recent study notes that: "Women have been taking an increasingly more dominant role in Jewish rites. As a result, the phenomenon of 'Ima on the bima' (mom on the podium) has become the rule rather than the exception in liberal Jewish settings. "Boys and men as a group are not attracted to feminized Jewish activities and environments. . . . In contrast, Orthodox Judaism, which has not integrated women into traditionally male roles such as rabbinical ordination and leading prayers, has managed to maintain the masculine connection to religious devotion." [From: "Non-Orthodox men less connected than women"; reprinted from The Jerusalem Post.] Conclusion Leon Podles's book on feminization is a bracing stimulus for analyzing the evolution of and present spiritual climate within branches of Christianity and Judaism. It helps explain why men in droves don't participate in it. Podles concludes with a warning that alienated men and suppressed (though God-given) masculinity will drive more and more men away from the biblical God into various forms of destructive nihilism, making them (in my words) enemies of — instead of spiritual warriors for — the Messianic Kingdom. • Paul Sumner, editor [Top] Obtaining Books Hebrew Streams is an affiliate of Amazon.com. If you purchase books (or music, movies, computers, software, food, or tools) through us — using the image link below — a portion of your purchase will be credited to us. This will not increase the price of your purchase. But it will help defray our expenses. 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