{"id":4241,"date":"2024-10-23T14:36:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T14:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/?p=4241"},"modified":"2024-10-23T14:36:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T14:36:56","slug":"more-men-more-toxic-theology-critical-questions-on-being-the-church-from-a-gen-z-theologian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/?p=4241","title":{"rendered":"More Men, More Toxic Theology? Critical Questions on Being the Church from a Gen Z Theologian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Generation Z embodies a rapidly changing reality in the United States and in many countries around the world. According to several recent polls, not only is Gen Z (persons born roughly between 1997 and 2012) less religious than previous generations<\/a> in the U.S. (33% identifying as \u201creligiously unaffiliated\u201d), we are also less likely than previous generations to identify as Republicans (21%), more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+ (28%), and the \u201cmost racially and ethnically diverse generation<\/a>\u201d in U.S. history. With an estimated 41 million Gen Zers<\/a> eligible to vote in the upcoming 2024 election, taking account of these seismic shifts in the terrain of U.S. political and cultural life has even greater importance. But the uniqueness of my generation does not stop here. As reported this week by The New York Times<\/em><\/a>, \u201cFor the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers.<\/strong> They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.\u201d For researchers on religion and churchgoers alike, this is paradigm shattering!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the first time in modern U.S. history, the men of a generation are more likely than the women of their generation to be religious \u2013 and it must be said that this binary report leaves out nonbinary persons and those who do not identify within the male-female scheme. Nevertheless, this dramatic shift carries with it not only implications for our theoretical frameworks as scholars but also in the lived experiences of religious persons in the U.S. This shift also comes at a time when Christian Nationalism<\/a>, an \u201cideology that seeks to create or maintain a legal fusion of Christian religion with a nation\u2019s character,\u201d is on the rise in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a survey done by the Pew Research Center<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWhite evangelical Protestants are more likely than adults in most other groups to say the Bible should have at least some influence<\/em> on U.S. laws (86%) \u2013 including 55% who say the Bible should have \u201ca great deal\u201d of influence. A majority of Hispanic Protestants (78%) and Black Protestants (74%) also think the Bible should hold at least some influence<\/em> on the country\u2019s laws.\u201d [emphasis added]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, if the religious persons of Gen Z are more likely to be men, and as The New York Times<\/em> described, these men are often attending evangelical churches, which tend to hold more conservative beliefs, then young Christian spaces in the U.S. face a potentially dangerous reality: churches, which once shared belongings in common (Acts 2:42-47) and were commanded to welcome the outcast and provide for the poor (Mtt. 25:31-40), are now poised \u2013 perhaps for the first time since the Inquisition and the ideology of \u201cmanifest destiny<\/a>\u201d \u2013 to be echo chambers of a toxic theology that has more to do with Donald Trump than Jesus of Nazareth. This is not to idealize the church\u2019s history or to deny the fact that Christian denominations have historically supported and benefitted from exploitative practices, including slavery and segregation. It is rather to identify that, if left unchecked, Christianity in my generation risks devolving even further into a demonic force of injustice in U.S.-American life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I really just say that?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At this point you might rightly be questioning on what grounds I made that seemingly polemical accusation. Let\u2019s get into it. In addition to the stark changes that Gen Z embodies, men in my generation, who are more religious than our female counterparts, are also less educated<\/a> than the women of our generation (again this binary erases people). This reality matters because it has been shown that persons who receive more education are more likely to have an egalitarian outlook<\/a> (specifically they are more likely to reject negative racial stereotypes), though it must be noted, however, that this outlook does not necessarily translate<\/a> into support for \u201cspecific policies designed to overcome racial inequality.\u201d The question, then, is not merely about a desire for an egalitarian society but more presciently about gaining the ability to create such a reality in our daily lives<\/em>. To crudely interpret the meaning of this for churches with more men from my generation it means that, generally speaking, the folks in our communities are less likely to value egalitarianism, less aware of and more likely to deny racial, ethnic<\/a>, and gender-based discrimination<\/a>, and less likely to have the skills necessary for creating an egalitarian community. And this reality has even deeper consequences…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to the Dunning-Kruger model<\/a>, persons who are less competent at a skill also tend to overestimate their ability because they also lack the competence to recognize their incompetence. In other words, I may think I\u2019m a great teacher simply because I didn\u2019t learn what good teaching entails. If I take a classroom management or teaching theory course, I\u2019d come to realize the faults in my method. This is what it means to gain competency<\/em>, to gain and develop skills that make me better at whatever it is I\u2019m trying to do. Do the men in my generation want<\/em> to be egalitarian? Can egalitarianism, specifically actively working against racism and sexism, be treated as a competency? If so, what are the implications?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is exactly what researchers Keon West and Asia A. Eaton<\/a> assert in their 2019 research in which they applied the Dunning-Kruger model to egalitarianism. (And yes, we\u2019re coming back to my Gen Z \u201cchurch bros\u201d soon!) Their research found that \u201cIn line with the Dunning-Kruger model, participants overestimated their levels of racial and gender-based egalitarianism, and this pattern was strongest among the most prejudiced participants<\/strong>\u201d (West & Eaton, p. 111). That is to say, people who are less competent \u2013 persons who have not received the education and training necessary for a certain skill, in this case egalitarianism \u2013 are more likely to overestimate their egalitarianism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A poignant example, which is quoted at the opening of their article, is former president, Donald J. Trump saying, \u201cI\u2019m the least racist person that you have ever met\u201d immediately following a quote from Senator Bernie Sanders saying that Trump is \u201cthe most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history\u201d (West & Eaton, p. 111). It has been shown that white people regard racism as less of a problem than persons of marginalized racial and ethnic identities, it has also been shown that<\/a> \u201cmen, compared to women, are less likely to notice or respond to sexism\u201d (quoted from West & Eaton, p. 111). As West and Eaton illustrate, the Dunning-Kruger model is true of racial and gender biases as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what? The Call to be the Church<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gen Z men are less educated than Gen Z women and more religious. Therefore, as discussed above, since white men are less likely to notice sexism, and white people with less education are more likely to deny racial and ethnic discrimination, the Christians of my generation run the risk of being the most prejudiced gathering in U.S.-American life<\/em>. And by integrating the research of West and Eaton, we now know that this same gathering \u2013 Christians from my generation \u2013 is, based upon the demographics, perhaps the most prejudiced gathering and also<\/em> the most likely to overestimate how egalitarian we are. \u201cWe\u2019re not racist or sexist\u201d says a white male pastor who looks out at a crowd of young white men who, generally speaking, have not had the training necessary to recognize our own prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But as Christians we believe that there is always hope! West and Eaton show us that egalitarianism, specifically recognizing and working to overcome racism, sexism and \u2013 I would add \u2013 transphobia and homophobia, is a skill that can be gained. The challenge is for us as churches, theologians, and religious leaders to recognize the need for egalitarianism as a competency. Afterall, we believe that as Christ-followers we are to be known by our love for one another (Jn 13:35), and that no member of the body can deny the value of another (1 Cor. 12:21-27). Therefore, we must make it clear that in gaining the competency of egalitarianism we gain the competency necessary for being the church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While West and Eaton don\u2019t provide a detailed plan for overcoming this situation, they speculate that \u201cmost diversity training does not involve any actual training in techniques to reduce bias, but rather focuses on the delivery of information about bias\u201d (West & Eaton, p. 117). We must not only educate our communities on the statistics and effects of biases, but we must also provide them with the techniques necessary for reducing our own biases so that we can become the church more fully. Two of these techniques, which they passingly reference, are \u201ccounter-stereotypic imaging and stereotype replacement\u201d (citing Devine, Forscher, Austin, & Cox<\/a>). Using the theology of feminist theologian Elizabeth Johnson<\/a> and the work of Afro-Cuban American artist Harmonia Rosales<\/a>, I have demonstrated one possible way of using these techniques in churches and research on religion in a previous blog<\/a> for this website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The task for each of us and all of our churches continues to be \u2013 especially those with younger participants \u2013 to learn and engage in such strategies. In other words, the challenge is for us to be the church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photocredits: (C) Ben White<\/a> auf Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

RaT-Blog Nr. 18\/2024<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his article, J. J. Warren<\/b> describes how the ever-increasing role of Generation Z in American society is causing fundamental shifts in the faith landscape, which also brings with it dangers for all those who are committed to an egalitarian church. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,159,161,146,143,136,166,150,149],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[365],"class_list":["post-4241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-in-english","category-erziehung","category-gender","category-gesellschaft","category-politik","category-religion","category-subjekt-und-psyche","category-theologie","category-transformation","eq-blocks"],"authors":[{"term_id":365,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"j-j-warren","display_name":"J..J.Warren","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","user_url":"","last_name":"Warren","first_name":"J..J.","job_title":"","description":"J.J. Warren (he\/him) is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute for Systematic Theology at the University of Vienna, and he is the author of Reclaiming Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2020), a book that seeks to aid the church in becoming LGBTQ+ inclusive and affirming."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4241"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4248,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions\/4248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rat-blog.univie.ac.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=4241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}