Men in this corner of the blogosphere complain that Christianity is too feminine. I liked this article by Frederica Mathews-Green. She surveyed one hundred Eastern Orthodox men, most of whom converted as adults, why their church is appealing to guys. I can summarize their answers with a list of adjectives:
Challenging
Active
Unyielding
Physical
Demanding
Rigorous
Ascetic
Martial
Heroic
Duty-oriented
Male-led
No-nonsense
Unsentimental
Traditional
Enduring
Ancient
Visual
Bearded
Okay, but is the Orthodox sex ratio actually tilted toward men? Here are the percentages of members who are male by religion (I limited the analyis to people born in America to eliminate a male surplus of immigrants):
Percent male (sample size = 43,632)
Muslim 68.2
Buddhist 60.3
Eastern Orthodox 47.4
Southern Baptist 47.3
Jewish 45.6
Roman Catholic 43.5
Lutheran--Missouri Synod 42.8
Methodist 42.8
American Lutheran 42.3
United Methodist 40.6
Episcopal 37.9
Interdenominational 32.3
It looks like there is a tendency for more traditional religions to appeal to men.
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I wonder if "Buddhist" really is "traditional" in this context.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the data on sex-ratio by church from?
ReplyDeleteThe "American Lutheran Church" has not existed since 1988. It and some smaller Lutheran bodies combined into the ELCA that year.
IHTG also has a point that American-born "Buddhists" are not traditional. Further, if this data is from the 1980s, almost all the "American-born Muslims" will be blacks.
Still, I think your conclusion "more traditional religions to appeal to men" is valid.
Hail: To maximize sample size (non-Christian groups are small), I included all survey years (1972-2008). People are still reporting themselves as American Lutheran--I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteOn Buddhists--is it so male because it attracts intellectuals?
Ron Guhname: are you Orthodox? Or is your wife Orthodox?
ReplyDeleteblue: I self-disclose too much. I call myself Christian.
ReplyDeleteBuddhism I would expect might be because of a greater male interest in theology and rationality over a feeling of the presence of god (in a kind of "need for a male figure" way, whether that be a Jesus-like or god-like figure).
ReplyDeleteMuslims I would expect to be because Black Muslims would tilt male.
Or perhaps I'm wrong. What is the sample size like on the Buddhists and Muslims? Perhaps this is an artefact?
47.4% consitutes a minority. All Christian sects selectively attract women. Read Nietzsche.
ReplyDelete"47.4% consitutes a minority. All Christian sects selectively attract women. Read Nietzsche."
ReplyDeleteIsn't 47.4% roughly equivalent to the percentage of men in the general population?
I mean, since women live longer, aren't women always a slight majority?
Episcopal 37.9
ReplyDeleteInterdenominational 32.3
Come on. Those aren't religions. More like social clubs married to the Junior League except that is an insult to social clubs and JL.
This may be a case of polling swinging and missing.
ReplyDeleteActual membership rolls show:
Greek Orthodox in the USA: 42% male
Episcopalians in the USA : 48% male
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