Fighting the Religious Gender Gap

Now that you mention it, I have a hard time imagining a non-feminizing religion. The whole point of the world's major religions is to make men behave in a more civilized (i.e., feminized) manner. Even Islam, with its strict discipline of women, controls the lives of men nearly as much. One religion does spring to mind as masculine, that of the norse gods - fight well and you can make it to Valhalla.

I guess it depends on what you mean by manly. If you mean acting anti-socially or in a destructive manner to oneself and others, then I guess religion is anti-manly. But it's also anti-female in the same regard because women have many of the same tendencies.

If you define manliness as having self-control, then religion promotes manliness. After all, which is more manly, getting drunk and fighting, which requires no effort, or controlling one's temper, which very few men can master?

Some people like to define manliness as that behavior which is the worst in man's peronality. But that's like defining a great musician as the one that's the worst at playing an instrument. I prefer to see real manliness as that which is best in man. I see Jesus as the most manly man that ever lived.