How Trump’s victory could accelerate women’s departure from evangelicalism

(RNS) — Weeks before the 2024 presidential election, disgraced and self-rehabilitated pastor Mark Driscoll came out in support of Donald Trump. He shared a photo of himself shaking Trump’s hand before gleefully announcing that Trump was forming an evangelical Christian faith advisory board as the former president had in his previous campaigns.

It’s a match made in machismo heaven.

Driscoll is one of many vocal pro-Trump leaders who use brash, testosterone-is-my-testimony branding to make Christianity more appealing to men. Others include Idaho’s Douglas Wilson, Midwest megachurch pastors Joe Rigney and Michael Foster and Right Response Ministries’ Joel Webbon, who has said he forbids his wife to read a book he hasn’t read first.

Their appeals mirror Trump’s bid, by appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast and other “bro media,” to disaffected young men.

The pastors’ appeal seems to be working. The gender gap in American Christianity has flipped. Among Gen Z Christians, men are now attending church in greater numbers than women, who are leaving in droves. The gender gap in the church mirrors the gender gap at the U.S. polls. According to psychologist Jean Twenge, the number of young men who identify as conservative is at an all-time high of 65%.

For decades, church leaders have complained of a “feminized” Christianity that’s too soft and emotional. Hence resources like David Murrow’s “Why Men Hate Going to Church,” events like the Stronger Men’s Conference, with its pyrotechnics and monster trucks, and a podcast ecosystem wherein pastors mimic the latest talking points from Rogan and Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.

Aaron Renn, a writer and consultant on urban policy and culture, notes that religion in America is “right-coded,” which is translating into: “Male = conservative = religious; Female = liberal = non-religious.”

He criticizes evangelical churches for judging men’s sins more harshly than women’s. He argues that today’s “manosphere” is one of the few places that take men’s and women’s differences seriously and teach men how to attract “high value” women.

Christian leaders who think they can simply mimic this performative masculinity in service of the gospel are morphing Christianity into something pre-Christian, turning it into another institution that sidelines women. That women, who have long formed the backbone of the local church, are turning away is a canary in the church’s coal mine.

Jesus’ ministry unfolded against the backdrop of the Roman Empire. There, sexual dominance and unmitigated violence were everyday realities. Women were seen as less than human and unfit for education or participation in society. Other vulnerable people — children, the disabled — were literally discarded.

By contrast, the early church, taking its cues from Jesus, saw women as fully human and welcomed their gifts and leadership. Church leaders taught monogamy as a family model that protected women and children. Widows were cared for by their spiritual family.

A Christianity that denigrates women in order to boost up men is a far cry from the teachings and example of Jesus. One wonders if Trump would consider Jesus, as he termed Howard Stern after he had Kamala Harris on his show — a “beta male.” Sure, Jesus defeated sin and death and Satan in the most dramatic way. But Jesus also compared himself to a mother hen, taught his followers to turn the other cheek and entrusted women with the Good News.

Today, Christian communities will thrive insofar as they create cultures where women and men can flourish together. Where their concerns are heard, and where they are told, You belong here. A church that tells women to keep silent and let men do the heavy lifting comes across as woefully out of touch with women’s incredible inroads over the last century. A church that tells men that being a man means lording power over others fails to disciple men in distinctly Christian ways.

Driscoll and his pastoral ilk will only drive the gender gap in the church further apart. Leaders who are strong enough to be gentle like Jesus will be better for the church in the long haul.

(Katelyn Beaty is the author of “Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church” and a co-host of the RNS podcast “Saved by the City.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)