Tim Smith

We often hear that Christian men are Exhibit A of toxic masculinity. The co-founder of the Churchtoo movement, which followed theMetoo movement, said, theology of male headship “feeds the rape culture that we see permeating American Christianity today.” But social scientists were listening to these accusations and asking, where’s your evidence? You’re making these charges, but where’s your data? So they went out and did the studies. And they found that evangelical family men who attend church regularly are actually the most loving husbands and the most engaged fathers. Compared to the average American family man, evangelical men are • More loving to their wives 4 (and yes, they do interview the wives separately) • Evangelical fathers are more engaged with their children -- 3.5 more hours /wk than secular men • Evangelical couples have the lowest rate of divorce -- 35 % lower than secular couples • And surprisingly they have the lowest rates of domestic violence of any group in the US. Sometimes a quote can help crystalize a point, so here’s a quote from the sociologist who did the largest study—his name is Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia, and this is from article he wrote for the New York Times: “It turns out that the happiest of all wives in America are religious conservatives. Fully 73 percent of wives who hold conservative gender values and attend religious services regularly with their husbands have high-quality marriages.” Wilcox then turns to his secular colleagues and says: “Academics need to cast aside their prejudices about religious conservatives and evangelicals in particular. Conservative Protestant married men with children are consistently the most active and expressive fathers and the most emotionally engaged husbands.” This is not a pep talk from a religious leader. These are the results of rigorous empirical testing. These are evidence- based findings showing that Christianity does have the power to reconcile the sexes, as I put it in the subtitle to my book. We should be confident about bringing into the secular arena to debunk the negative media narratives. Adapted from The Toxic War on Masculinity