Why men don't like church: testosterone

The Ottawa Citizen ^ | Sunday, December 22, 2002 | Emanuella Grinberg

[freeforall]

Why men don't like church: testosterone Skipping services typical of engaging in 'short-sighted' risks

Emanuella Grinberg The Ottawa Citizen

Sunday, December 22, 2002

The risk-taking impulse that makes more men than women commit crimes is also the reason men are more likely not to be religious, says a sociologist.

"It seems that not being religious is a form of risk-taking, consistent with other patterns of short-sighted behaviour in men," said Rodney Stark, a professor of sociology and comparative religion at the University of Washington, whose study will be published in The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

"Every minister knows it's harder to get the guys to church than the women," he said. "We ought to be asking why this is."

Biological differences between men and women mean that men are more likely to have an "underdeveloped ability to inhibit their impulses," he said. "Especially those involving immediately gratification and thrills."

Mr. Stark based his conclusions on World Values Surveys, a poll of residents in 57 countries, with about 1,000 respondents in each country, which included the U.S., most European countries, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Turkey, China and India. The results showed that there were sex differences everywhere, even in religions that are very male-centred, such as Orthodox Judaism.

Mr. Stark and fellow sociologist Alan Miller published another paper based on whether gender socialization or differences in social power played a role in religiousness. Studies have shown that career women are just as religious as housewives, he said.

Mr. Stark isn't satisfied with the notion that women are socialized to be more nurturing and have more time for worship than men. For him, it is a matter of gender that makes men less religious, but not a matter of the socialization of genders, said Mr. Stark.

"It used to be said that women were socialized to raise the kids and take care of the home, but when you compare a career woman to a housewife, you see that both are still a heck of a lot more religious than any man."

He says that if not a product of socialization, low rates of male religiousness can be attributed to physiology, much like higher instances of crime among men compared with women.

"There are big gender differences among Christians, Orthodox Jews and Muslims, but in each case, more women are going to more services and saying they adhere to religious mores than men. If it were a matter of socialization, it would show up in the results," he said.

Mr. Stark also said his findings are consistent with the beliefs of criminologists across North America who find aggression more prevalent in men than women.

"High testosterone levels have been proven to make men more likely to commit crimes. The tendency in men toward risky behaviour keeps turning up even where socialization is different, and so does crime and delinquency."

© Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen

[Mustang]

"...Emanuella Grinberg..."

Yep, he ate the brown acid at Woodstock '69.

[toddst]

It puzzles me how anyone of sensibility could attend the same denomination the Clintons went to and which endorsed Bill Clinton.

All the Clintons did was "go to" a Methodist Church. They used going to church like they used everything else - only for their benefit.

As for the Methodist Church endorsing Clinton, MY Methodist Church certainly did nothing of the kind. At the national level the Methodist organization has been inflitrated by liberals who claim to speak for all of us. They do not. I assure you the Methodist Church is Kentucky is conservative, not liberal.

[kms61]

Many people on this thread are casting this as a conservative vs liberal issue. Not necessarily so. I grew up in a conservative church, and I walked away from it. I assure you it wasn't because of political correctness, watering down of the message, of anything of the sort. I simply stopped believing.

Not every issue should be viewed through an ideological prism.

[Reeses]

We are about to celebrate His coming ... If you are touched by Him

I just noticed something. There's heavy homosexual overtones in both religion and football. "He put it deep into the other guy's endzone", "He knelt down and accepted the body of Christ". Ick, I don't care for either outlet myself.

[gusopol3]

It is no accident that men have been the leaders in all these fields, while women are more comfortable with the passivity and intellectual vacuum of religious ritual, the submission to some arbitrary authority; and for the most part of history, enjoying the benefits of progress while contributing little to the real world.

dear friend, with whom I so frequently agree-- have you read the Mayflower Compact recently? It's hard to think of a religion that men haven't founded and dominated, or are you reading your history somewhere different from me? In the congregation that I attend, men are not under-represented.

[Temple Drake]

"High testosterone levels have been proven to make men more likely to..."
be men???

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Though, as I read my post, I know that their are some who would say that my choice of denomination is "interesting." If I offended, I am sorry, and I apologize.

As I reread my post after posting, I most add something, Christianity requires a lot of commitment and a true Christian is one who gives over his or her life to Christ, Church doesn't necessarily entail that.

Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit

[Temple Drake]

OOOrah, hon! I have to look out for my sons. My goal is to riase manly men and womanly women -- but no wimps or sissies. I train the boys to be gentlemen even when dealing with girls who are clearly not ladies...

[meyer]

Sunday morning is the only time that men have to get things done around the house without interference. Its good to separate once in a while.

Plus, church is often boring.

That said, this is quite the generalization. I haven't counted heads on Sunday morning of late, but I suspect that there's plenty of men in most churches on Sunday morning or whenever a particular religious ceremony is held.

[MonroeDNA]

Men go to church because women make them.

[MonroeDNA]

While I admire your faith, I'm about to let you in on a little secret:

You can believe in God without believing in the Bible.

[Robert_Paulson2]

Any God who demanded we totally abandon reality, observable fact,aka: TRUTH would NOT be god, but in fact THE DEVIL.

It is RELIGION that demands we abandon reality, for a hyper-emotional mind job, delivered by heavy handed interlocutors, AFTER they have picked our pockets via the tri-partate aegis of guilt, condemnation and emotional hyperbole.

I believe the bible. I believe in God. I LOVE Christmas. But the Jesus I know would not demand we abandon reality and reason, to be led astray by the "ravenous wolves" that have taken over, where he left off... blaspheming of course EVERYTHING he stood and stands for.

YOUR points are well taken. Most of what passes for religion today, as a ritual, blasphemes the very people who it claims were made in God's likeness... and then takes up an offering to help mitigate our shortcomings.

It's often just a glorified "hot dog" stand for guilty conscience... when we really need a meal of truth, to sustain us.

Why men walk out and don't come back?
We want reality, truth and the empowerment promised (as in in the TRUTH shall make you free) and are very dissappointed to find more bondage and corruption in the house of hypocracy than we get in a whole YEAR of honest, objective labor in the reality of TRUTH and EXPERIENCE in our daily lives.

When JESUS really shows up at a Church, I would be first to try and get in for a visit. In the meanwhile, I seem to find expressions of him, more abundantly in the things, situations and people I meet OUTSIDE the walls of the local "mauseleum" that passes for real CHURCH.

All form, NO substance, and an eternal abundance of lies and deception. Who has the time for it?

[AnnaZ]

But once a man finds the Man, Jesus the Lord, then that man becomes stronger, more compassionate, wiser and fulfilled. Find the real deal and see your men change - for Good.

Amen!!!

[MonroeDNA]

Hey, how did you manage to sign up as a member as of tomorrow!?!?

[toddst]

While I admire your faith, I'm about to let you in on a little secret:

You can believe in God without believing in the Bible.

I hear this from people all the time. From my perspective The Bible is the story given to us by God about creation and His love for us. Thus, I cannot separate the two.

[Blood of Tyrants]

When all religions are examined without emotion and with an open mind, all except one tell you the same basic thing: that what you do in this life determines where you go in the afterlife, i.e. little sins require little retributions and can be erased from the balance books with a few good deeds, really big sins are unforgiveable except through many years of "correct" (in many cases this is morally relatavistic) living and big time paybacks. If you die in the black, you go to Heaven. If you die in the red, you go to Hell.

Except Christianity. Which believes that no matter how good you are, you cannot live up to the God's standards to get in Heaven. God instead, knowing this came down to us in the form of an ordinary man to make the ultimate perfect sacrifice that would cover all people for all time if they would only believe in Him and follow.

[Chemnitz]

I read "Goodbye Good Men" and I loan it to others.

[Chemnitz]

This is a good link about feminism in the LCMS:

http://www.concordtx.org/msnews/congpres.htm

[Blood of Tyrants]

It is not so much feminism but liberalism in general. The Methodists are embracing homosexual "marriage". The Catholics church is protecting pedophiles. The black community has sold their souls to the Democratic party. Countless numbers of people who call themselves Christians believe that abortion is a right (an thus if it is a right it can't be a sin, can it?)

Personally, I am a member of the Southern Baptist church. Every year I eagerly await the results of the Southern Baptist convention where they make the most biblically based and politically incorrect statement possible. Somebody is bound to howl when the razor edge of the sword of truth cuts to the bone. And you can count on the media to dutifully report the latest outrageous statement from whatever leftwingpinkocommiefag group is squealing.