We are told that there are too few single men of marriageable or of marrying age in the Church; we are told that there are vastly more single women than men of such age in the Church; we are told that men are to blame for this. By now, of course, we men should be accustomed to this, for our culture tells us — frequently and loudly — that men are to blame for everything. In an era when men are increasingly disempowered and women are increasingly ’empowered’, men are, somehow, still to blame for everything.
Women have been permitted to vote for more than a century, yet men are to blame for all political problems. Divorce courts virtually always side with the woman, yet men are to blame for the increasing percentage of broken homes. The list is nigh endless.
On the other side, we are told that women face structural hurdles. What are these hurdles? Where are they? Men-only clubs are all but illegal, whereas women-only clubs are encouraged. Men-run enterprises are penalized, whereas women-run enterprises are legally favored. Men-only scholarships are (virtually) prohibited, whereas women-only scholarships are encouraged and promoted.
More women graduate than men; more women obtain advanced degrees than men. Fewer women are homeless than men; fewer women lose their jobs than men; fewer women are injured or killed at work than men.
Far fewer women commit suicide than men.
The despair and the desperation of modern men practically cannot be overstated. And I am supposed to further condemn men because not enough of them are in church? I am supposed to believe that yet another program tailored for and targeted toward women will somehow fix these problems? This would not even be believable as satire.
If there were no Koreans in church, we would train missionaries to speak Korean, to understand Korean culture, and we would send them to Koreans. The same holds for virtually every other group — blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, Africans, Latin Americans, South Americans, Amerindians. If we see a group not in the Church, we send missionaries, for that is what God commanded us to do. But what are we told when there are no young men in the church? We are told we must cater more to women.
We find ourselves in this position precisely because the Church has catered to women. An emasculated, effeminate, culturally passive (at best) church will always drive men away. The cure is not more of the same poison, and it certainly is not blaming men — at least not young men who had no say and no power. The Church has failed more than a generation of young men; now is not the time to double down.