Decades ago, when I studied theology in college, the female-to-male ratio was about nine women to every man. I think I half-ironically took it as a rule of thumb that about nine times more women than men are interested in religion, whether it is intellectual study or the ordinary life of a parish. That ratio was frequently borne out in subsequent years.
Perhaps that is why a headline in the New York Times caught my eye: In a First Among Christians, Men are More Religious Than Women.
The reporter, Ruth Graham, looks at a survey by the Center for American Life/American Enterprise Institute, which found that young men attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious than their female peers. This is an astonishing change.
The article suggests that women are being turned off church involvement by a lack of gender equality. However, it does not mention that the most allegedly liberal and progressive US Protestant denominations are losing members to the extent that their very existence is threatened. They are not attracting young women or young men.
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When young men turn to religion in the US it is towards Evangelical churches with traditional theology, which is probably why they are the ones that are growing.
So is this move to religion just part of the political divide covered by my fellow columnist Jennifer O’Connell, where young women are moving increasingly to the political left and young men are moving to the right?
A campus minister interviewed for the New York Times article, Derek Rishmawy, says, ‘Religion is coded right, and coded more traditionalist.’
But he also says that Christianity is perceived as not being institutionally and formally sceptical about young men as a class. There is also a genuine spiritual search going on. It is not all just about donning Maga hats.
While being young and female is still no picnic, young men are struggling in multiple ways, including mental health difficulties and loneliness.
While there may be a connection between men becoming more open to traditionalist views and their increased religious participation, they are primarily being driven by a crisis of meaning. Individualist, consumerist culture with its transient dopamine hits is failing them.
For example, I suspect that someone such as JD Vance, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, converted to Catholicism in part because he was hanging out with a lot of smart people who shared his views but who also happened to be Catholic.
However, it would not be good for Christianity or young men if adherence to Christianity became some kind of additional accessory for an anti-woke brigade. Trying to make Christianity fit into some neat left-right divide only distorts it.
Pope Francis is not only in favour of the right to life of the youngest humans but also speaks constantly about climate change and welcoming migrants, neither of which are right-coded stances.
Young men exploring Christianity need to be offered faith development and spiritual guidance that moves beyond mere traditionalism. At its best, faith is not a comfort blanket but a constant urging to grow and change.
There is little Irish research examining a religious gender split. Certainly, young men are not turning up in droves to Irish parish churches.
Anecdotally, however, in religious movements such as Youth 2000, the biggest Catholic youth organisation for 18-35 year olds on this island, the ratio is not anywhere near nine to one. At both their annual summer retreat attended by about 1,000 young people and their regular regional gatherings, it appears closer to three young women to two men, itself a remarkable statistic.
The same is true of students, with university chaplaincies now seeing lots of male involvement.
The sad thing is that some people in the church don’t seem to know what to do with these young seekers or, worse, are uncomfortable with their desire for orthodox faith.
In light of the recent close of the clunkily named Vatican Synod on Synodality, it was troubling to read a submission from Youth 2000 to what was called the Synodal Pathway in Ireland.
This was a process where people got together in parishes with the eventual aim of contributing to a national report for Ireland.
One member of Youth 2000 turned up to a local synodal pathway meeting with lots of members of his youth group but reported feeling “drowned out” and therefore did not engage subsequently.
Others reported being treated like an anomaly, or unrepresentative. Some people in the parish discussions were not aware of or even sceptical that there were large numbers of young practising Catholics.
It is remarkable that young people who not only want to contribute but are already active in their faith are so invisible to people who probably lie awake at night worrying about the church dying.
The Dominican Order is among the few religious orders consistently attracting young men wishing to become priests. Unsurprisingly, Dominicans are also champions of Youth 2000.
Young male interest in religion should not be exaggerated as it is only a minority. But a minority choosing religion in the teeth of ascendant secularism is still a phenomenon worth a closer look.