Thou Doth Protest Too Much?

It's not my place to question the way anyone chooses to worship God, nor is it my place to make people face up to their own latent homosexual tendencies. But I can't help but be amused by this piece in today's Kansas City Star about "testosterone theology" (italics by me):

“I started talking to men outside of the church,” he says. “God has given me a passion for men outside the walls of the church. In doing that, I spent a lot of time talking to guys who didn’t look like church guys — intentionally.”

The leaders of the movement, including Murrow, don’t like contemporary Christian praise music, railing against “dreamy songs with lovey-dovey words.” They don’t like the sermons, which they say are boring, or the image of a sweet, loving Jesus. And they even complain about the sanctuaries’ decor, which reminds them of Martha Stewart.

Instead they want more martial music such as “Onward, Christian Soldiers” and “Rise Up, O Men of God.” They want short services and short sermons, with masculine, athletic metaphors, mostly about a rebellious and manly Jesus. They want swords and battle axes on the walls of their sanctuaries, and they want to call their spiritual leaders “coach” instead of “pastor” and see them dressed in camouflage or orange hunting vests.

“The battle for men’s hearts is going to be fought on many fronts,” Murrow says. “You have to use the right lure to get them in the door.”

At the United Brethren in Christ Church in Holly Hill, Fla., the Rev. Chuck McKeown has already made adjustments based on the teachings of Murrow and others. He has put swords and battle axes on the wall of his sanctuary. On Sunday evenings, he has been holding cookouts for men.

“We chat about our struggles and victories, tell men stories,” he says. There is an informal, 10-minute lesson, “sometimes around violence and addiction issues in a nonthreatening atmosphere where a guy would open up and talk.”

Sometimes, this emphasis on masculinity and muscular Christianity turns into something else — an obsession with the “feminization” of the Christian church.

There is a good deal of sexual imagery: Murrow and other authors use the terms “emasculation,” “homoerotic,” “macho-deficit” and checking “your manhood at the door” in describing a traditional churchgoing experience. Other authors talk about “impotence.”

In one magazine column, Murrow wrote, “The Christ I found in Scripture was a wild stallion, but the church seemed intent on turning me into a gelding.”

Is anybody else picking up on some unresolved issues here?