(I actually wrote this last week, but a my computer came down with cyber-lurgi and spent several days offline, so I haven’t been able to upload it until now. I can only imagine that it was an angry god smiting my antivirus software.)
It’s that time of year again. A decade on from the 9/11 tragedy, our screens fill with grief porn, social networks swirl with bickering and racism, and any serious questions about the event, the iffy science in the official report or that day’s devastating legacy are largely ignored in favour of mawkish sentimentalism and gratuitous death footage.
There have been other changes over these last ten years too. North America’s brand of popular fundamentalist Christianity has gradually changed into something even more aggressive and politically motivated than its pre-9/11 persona. Like a drunk in a pub who’s had his pint spilt, the heady hormonal rush of patriotism and perceived threat has caused certain denominations of Christianity to raise their heads high, puff their chests out and throw aimless punches into the air.
Of course, there are many moderate and entirely rational Christians who put spirituality before macho posturing. However, a major sector of an already patriarchal religion has now morphed into an exaggerated caricature of masculine traits and overt misogyny. The my-god-is-bigger-than-your-god ideology is spreading. Here’s part of a wonderful, if slightly disturbing, article from the Guardian:
“…The macho Jesus movement has been bolstered by books like No More Mr Christian Nice Guy and The Church Impotent – the Feminisation of Christianity. But it’s artist Stephen Sawyer, whose paintings of the Son of God as a tattooed biker and boxer have captured the imagination of Christian men searching for a more manly role model.
As Kentucky-based Sawyer, 58, points out: “I scarcely think Jesus could have overturned the tables of the money-lenders and driven them from the temple if he was a wimp. The model I use for my paintings is a surfer guy who’s built like a brick shithouse.”
But while you might expect this thinking to flourish in the American South, it’s probably more surprising that it’s gaining ground in the UK.
According to recent polls, the ratio of women to men worshippers in this country is 65% to 35% – and too much girliness is getting the blame for the gender imbalance.
Hence the rising number of conferences and sermons aimed at men that present a more muscular version of Jesus, along with the continuing success of Christian lad’s mag Sorted…”
Full article here.
