March/April 2007 Issue

God’s Gift to Women

Chest-thumping bible thumpers

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Brute manliness is the new ideal in the Christian men’s movement. Even the Promise Keepers, focused 10 years ago on moral purity and fidelity, have a new slogan: “It’s not about learning how to be a nicer guy. It’s about becoming the powerful man God designed you to be.” Displaying the most testosterone is a start-up ministry called GodMen, which recently drew 200 men to its inaugural conference in Nashville with the declaration, “We don’t force men, Christian or otherwise, to wear ‘spiritual bras.'”

Within the many books aimed at the emerging movement (our favorite titles include You the Warrior Leader: Applying Military Strategy for Victorious Spiritual Warfare and No More Christian Nice Guy) we found these pearls.

“We don’t need a meeting of Really Nice Guys; we need a gathering of Really Dangerous Men…. If you are going to live in God’s kingdom, Jesus says, it’s going to take every ounce of passion and forcefulness you’ve got.”
–Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul

“In order to become God’s gift to women, we must first become acquainted with a vision of true God-designed masculinity…a version of strength and confidence that makes mere muscle and a cocky mouth seem like a plastic Tonka toy next to a monster Chevy truck.”

–God’s Gift to Women: Discovering the Lost Greatness of Masculinity

“Christ did not come to make men more feminine. He came to restore them to real manhood…many of today’s top speakers encourage men to have a passionate relationship with Him…. Speaking as a man, the idea of having a passionate relationship with another man is just plain gross.”
–Why Men Hate Going to Church

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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