The Religious Right Is No Ally of Men

To men everywhere, the following thoughts were put to pen some time ago, but they are still applicable today:

You might think this strange coming from a Christian, but I have come to the conclusion that much of what passes as Conservative Christianity in this country is nothing but a false, materialistic gospel that serves the purposes of right-wing shills. True Christianity is the friend of no ideologue because its sacred core is simply not for sale.

I’m simply tired of the Religious/Political Right pretending to be my friend. Right-wingers railing against feminism is like the Nazis railing against Communism. That fact is that they are just as totalitarian as the feminists. Both camps would like to define for the rest of us what our manhood should be.

Let me point a few things out …

1. Right-wingers side with popular culture when they proclaim that men need women. One of their favorite arguments is that God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Actually, the verse in the original language says, “It is not good for THE man (Adam specifically) to be alone.” The Bible does not teach that all men need women in order to be “complete” as some think. Otherwise, the Apostle Paul would have never talked about the advantages of being single. The fact of the matter is that most of our misery has come from a flawed belief that we can’t have a life apart from women. We need to stop chasing women’s bodies. Bible-thumping Evangelists who proclaim that men ought to get married and “settle down” are aiding and abetting the enemy.

2. Right-wingers side with materialistic women when they talk about the “breadwinner.” There is not a single verse in the Bible that says a man must be the sole or even primary source of monetary income for his family. Fundamentalists will quote the passage that says, “If anyone provideth not for his own” and apply that verse solely to men, but in the original language and context the passage is generic (It applies to women as well as men.). Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:14) but you’ll never hear the respectable pew-warmers who put on their Sunday best preach a sermon on that. No, there is an insinuation that if you are a man and haven’t (1) married a Barbie with a Bible; (2) made over 70k; (3) bought a house in the Burbs; (4) bought a SUV; and (5) have 3+ kids, then you haven’t arrived spiritually. Believe you me, this pseudo-gospel suits the primped, gold-digging Southern Belles, but it won’t suit you if you have a shred of self-awareness and integrity.

When you combine #1 and #2, you have a hopeless, elitist little game. Only the chosen few are allowed to be validated as human beings and as men. The rest of us are meant to be asexual losers, the objects of faux pity at best and scorn at worst. The instances of single men being treated like freak specimens of humanity in church communities is legion. There have been some real quacks who have hinted in so many words that if you don’t marry and settle down, you are not a real man. But alas, you’re expected to make enough dough to support the American Dream of your beautiful wife. This, even though these same right-wingers support social and political policies that hasten the erosion of the middle class. So in the end, we are expected to believe that God only allows the rich and beautiful to be “real men.”

What about porn? Prostitution? Personally I don’t condone these things, but consider WHY many religionists sound as dogmatic and rabid as the feminists about these matters. I think the answer simple. When you consider their other statements about manhood, you see that it all boils down to a debate about which special interest group is going to control the men in this society. For whoever controls men has power, and the primary way to do that is via men’s strong desire for physical and emotional intimacy. How else could the feminists and right-wing religionists make us jump through their self-serving hoops? They surely don’t want the Sex Industry cutting into their attempts to create an artificial scarcity of something that’s really overrated anyway. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of the Sex Industry, the Religious Right, and Feministic women dangling their carrots of false promises of love and intimacy. They always leave you empty-handed.

Now you see why I am furious at the leaders of the Religious Right. They are not my friends. They are my enemies and the enemies of the “little guy” everywhere. They cozy up to power and affluence and would oppress others. They are not servants of Christ. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are false teachers. If you are religious, you should mark these people for what they are.

The rest of you may not profess Evangelical Christianity, but this affects you as well. Just like me, you have been pinned between two battering rams of thought in this society. Two sides of the same totalitarian coin. Right-wingers and liberals. They are both a sham. It’s time for men to stand up for ourselves and carve out our own destiny