“Our society expects nothing of men”

Photo by Zhang Kenny on Unsplash

Rev Fisk dropped this comment in a Saturday Morning Chill lately and it’s an interesting thought to contemplate in the light of the decay of Western Civ and Father’s Day. Christians are not the only ones to notice that this is indeed the case, with many pointing to the portrayal of dads on TV as evidence that society sees men as superfluous oafs. There has been a sustained focus on empowering girls to sign up for what have been traditionally male careers, but it has been, (some say by design) at the expense of the formation of boys. (Joy Pullman discussed this here.)

A recent article at Unherd characterizes Western history as moving from an “honor culture” – where reputation would be defended to the death – to “a more pragmatic and constructive ‘dignity culture’ in which people were encouraged to ignore verbal insults.” The writer concludes that both have been replaced by “victimhood culture” where we all battle it out for moral supremacy based on who’s the most oppressed. However, towards the end of her piece, she places a spotlight on men, as key players in the culture wars and laments the way they can be “cancelled” just for being born male:

“During my career I have encountered numerous men who were not power-hogging sexists…but instead encouraging, kind and notably generous with their time and professional expertise. All around me I see decent men who are helping to support their families, both in work and at home, while playing a valuable part in their community. Are such men simply to be written out of the ideological picture?”

Polls have documented the dwindling presence of men in our churches and a post at Mockingbird this week suggests that fathers are lonely. We don’t need monster trucks in the narthex, but it has been suggested that men are alienated by the creeping feminization of church that has come largely through contemporary “worship” music and also by the law-only preaching so prevalent in the visible church. (Pastor Wolfmueller once quipped that men don’t like love songs, nor being told what to do, so that could explain it!)