An interesting piece!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15488905/site/newsweek/

Real Men Talk About God
A new Christian movement lets guys be guys.


Web Exclusive
By Eileen Finan
Newsweek
Updated: 6:12 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2006

Oct. 30, 2006 - This wasn’t your Daddy’s religious revival. Last Saturday morning, 200 Christian men gathered in a downtown warehouse in Nashville for a day-long spiritual extravaganza. Inside, strobe lights flashed, and tracks by the Killers thumped from speakers stacked on either side of a stage. Four large video screens showed clips of karate fights, car chases and Jackass-style stunts. Then the music lowered and Christian comedian Brad Stine appeared. With his rat-a-tat delivery and aggressive style, Stine quickly whipped the crowd into a chorus of “Amens!” “A lot of guys out there wouldn’t have the balls to be here,” he shouted. “Are you ready to be a man? Are you ready to kick ass? Are you ready to grab your sword and say, ‘OK family, I’m going to lead you?’ Buckle up. This is GodMen!”

The event was the first of what Stine and other organizers hope will be a series of testosterone-fueled Christian men’s gatherings across the country. Their purpose: to reassert masculinity within a church structure that they say has been weakened by feminization. They call it an experiment for now and don't expect, or even want, their numbers to grow too quickly. Stine and his friend and manager Mike Smith dreamed up GodMen after reading David Murrow’s 2005 book, “Why Men Hate Going to Church.” In it, Murrow points out that on any given Sunday, 13 million more adult women than men attend church in America. “We have to find a way to give [men] something that matters to them,” says Stine.

One way is to create a worship space where guys can be guys. “In most churches, you’ll see flowers and ferns at the front,” says Stine. “That’s saying, ‘This is a place that a woman has composed.’” So GodMen sought to create a place where men could admit to flaws without being judged bad Christians and be unapologetically male, including plenty of rock and roll and sex talk. “There’s this idea if you don’t drink or don’t say bad words, you are doing your Christianity appropriately, and meanwhile, that same guy is on the Internet looking at pornography,” Stine says. “It’s all a smoke screen. We need to admit these issues in order to be free.”

The group has three rules. First: only laymen are allowed as speakers, never pastors. “If a pastor says the wrong thing he can get fired,” Stine says. “A layman has nothing to lose.” Second: no one under 17 is admitted. “One of the biggest issues with men is their sexuality,” says Stine. “We are tired of Christianity sounding so candy-coated. If we can’t talk about real issues, what’s the point of the church?” And third: no women allowed. (This female reporter was allowed to observe the events while remaining largely out of sight from the crowd.) “We want to create an environment where we can talk to each other the way men really do,” Smith says, adding that existing men’s groups like the Promise Keepers—an evangelical ministry for men—often mimic the same church environment that turns some men away.

The GodMen approach certainly enticed John Crawford, a father of three teenage sons from Elkhart, Ind. Between bites of barbecued pork during a lunch break, he explained that he appreciated the rawness of GodMen. “It is not wrong for a guy to be bold and to have some testosterone,” he said. “Jesus kicked over tables in the temple when he saw bad things going on.” The GodMen gathering “is a little more rated R than PG,” said Crawford, “but Jesus wasn’t always PG.”

For the GodMen, the popular portrayal of a meek Jesus promotes an emasculated ideal for the Christian male. It’s a Jesus that never existed, says author Paul Coughlin, who wrote the 2005 book, “No More Christian Nice Guy,” a seminal text for many in this crowd. “Christian men need to know that it’s OK to be tough,” he says. “Jesus is tender and he’s tough. Right now, we are more disciples of Emily Post than we are Jesus.” During a talk on Saturday titled “Jesus—A Very Bad Christian Man,” Coughlin spoke while a projector beamed a “Wanted” poster of Jesus behind him “The idea that Jesus was always meek and mild is as fictitious as anything you’ll find in Dan Brown’s books,” he told the crowd. “Jesus was mighty disrespectful toward authority.” Then Coughlin riled the audience up: “You will never be able to be a warrior of light, to really fight on behalf of justice, if you think you have to be nice all the time!”

The GodMen also reject typical Christian music. It “doesn’t usher me into the presence of God,” says Smith, Stine’s manager. “It just ushered me into boredom.” Not so with the GodMen band that played on Saturday. On stage, as a series of words flashed on screens—Boss, Bold, Brash, Bully, Blunt—the band ripped into their first tune, “Testosterone High”: “Forget the ying and the yang/ I’ll take the boom and the bang/ Give me another dose of testosterone.”

Beyond the thrashing music, Saturday’s event included a number of risqué panels. One forum, titled “Training the Penis,” addressed struggles with masturbation and pornography. These were regarded as morally reprehensible but as weaknesses that should be addressed honestly. In another talk, Nate Larkin, a former pastor, told the crowd how he picked up his first prostitute on the way to preach at a candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Larkin says that he only began to overcome his sex addiction when he stopped pretending to be a perfect Christian. “This group targets the guys who went to Promise Keepers once and didn’t go back, the guys who believe in God, but relationships in church to them seem forced and fake,” he says. “There is an under-served market and I think it is a rising tide.”

Among the new adherents is Seth Kalb, 29, from Spring Hill, Tenn. The edgy nature of GodMen, which he jokingly described as Promise Keepers on crack, drew him in. “I wanted the real meat,” he said. “They touch on real things here, like masturbation. That’s something that would never be discussed in church, where you are supposed to keep your shame quiet.” Another fan is Adam Rundell, 25, who drove 13 hours from Clay Center, Kansas, with his buddy Brian Tholstrup, 32, after reading about the conference on Paul Coughlin’s web site. Rundell says the day empowered him. “People think that you have to be a goody-two-shoes to be Christian and I hate that,” he says. “This has strengthened me. I am a man and I can stand my ground and I’m not afraid to show my impurities and if someone has a problem with that, that’s their problem.”

This is BS. This is the ****** Church endorsing the stereotype that males are all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. So, basically, let's let the church turn immoral and pander to the patronizing stereotype that males would rather commit to the lechery and avarice that society has brainwashed them into believing that's all they're good for, rather than coming up with more reasonable solutions to closing the gender gap in Church attendance? Maybe the reason why males shy away from Church is because they find God and the rigid, powerful patriarchal structure of the Church surprisingly impotent against the feminazis/PC police, which is a strange disconnect that would lead anyone to lose the faith when their faith does NOT defend them against the corruption of fabian beasts like feminists. Instead of making men feel like the only things they're interested in is sex and drugs, the church should just be more honest in addressing the corruption of women's "equality" movements and how to confront those bastards, and should perhaps introduce more rational discourse on topics other than sex/drugs into the church, rather than drench every homily with vacuous emotional drivel spurred on by the PC police/feminazis. This is bull. Masturbation is NOT immoral - it actually lowers blood pressure, improves prostate health and a load of other benefits. Sex should NOT be that big a deal when getting more men to do anything - being honest about hypocrisy (like the little boy scandal) will appeal to the rational side of everyone, and actually preaching more intelligently will probably bring back the men. Sex & drugs into the church will only serve to patronize them by making them believe that that's all they care about, and will only dumb down the church more than it already sounds like its been dumbed down. The men in this rally should be ashamed - as ashamed as women should feel when they see their sisters behaving so unscrupulously in the name of "being more like men." I hope this involves the idiotic protestants and not more well-established religions like the Roman Catholics - please don't tell me the RCs are doing this! If this is what the Church thinks all men are interested in, and all that they care about, I really have very little hope for Christianity, and for men. Sex is NOT that big a deal! It's a frivolous carnal act we are programmed to enjoy so that our species can keep sleepwalking through the vacuous, existentially useless and virulent circle of life! This is BS!

"Ahh bin on de mountain, Broddurs, un Ahh spanked mah monkey. Allellulya'll. An Ahhh reamed me a ho on de way to de church today, yassir, allelluly'all. Ahh is a SINNER, yeah. Forgive me Lord. I stole her panties too. Yeahhh. People dey say this Christianity is TOO HARD. But my dick can't get too hard cuz I GOT TESTOSTERONE. Let's hear it ...Allellulya'll !"

"...a former pastor, told the crowd how he picked up his first prostitute on the way to preach at a candlelight service on Christmas Eve"

That's why I don't go to church. I won't have someone preaching to me what they are not willing to live by.

Most preachers don't talk like this, so why don't you go to church? Hell, the churches are all about women these days.

I have my reasons. I don't need a church to have a spiritual connection to my Creator. That's between Him and I...I prefer the connection to be untainted.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Churches are all about business these days. Whatever sells is preached. Pastors want numbers and dollars. The latest fads, gimmicks, buzz words, and PC ideologies are the mainstay of church doctrine and ministry styles these days with just enough Bible verses and Christian theology thrown in the pot to keep up the facade of "churchianity". I grew up in church and went to a Christian college. I got tired of the lies, manipulation, and control.

Hm I used to go to churches once and I will soon be going to churches again because of my daughter. It makes me kind of sad because I really like our pastor. This guy is just great. He has an interesting (a bit silence) gentle voice and always has a joke on his lips. He also has the gift to talk directly from his heart, to say words that touch you and you know are truly meant that way. I´ve been on some funerals and have often seen priest trot out christian rhetoric without reference toward the one who died to know the difference.

Oh and also you couldn´t say this in this pc world, he is great with kids. On our wedding he invited the kids to sit near the altar and to introduce themselves on the microphone. Thank you PR!

So back to topic, I think a lot depends on the pastor.