Sarah Palin and the End of Men

Two major news stories suggest that men–and evangelical men–are in danger of extinction.

The first is from Newsweek and is entitled “Saint Sarah: How Sarah Palin is Reshaping the Religious Right.” Here’s a key quotation from Lisa Miller’s essay:

[W]hile leftist critics continue to shred Palin as a cynical, shallow, ill-informed opportunist, and new polls show her unpopularity rating to be at an all-time high—53 percent—Palin is now playing to her strengths. Even if she never again seeks elected office, her pro-woman rallying cry, articulated in the evangelical vernacular, together with the potent pro-life example of her own family, puts Palin in a position to reshape and reinvigorate the religious right, one of the most powerful forces in American politics. The Christian right is now poised to become a women’s movement—and Sarah Palin is its earthy Jerry Falwell.

The second is from the Atlantic Monthly and is entitled “The End of Men.” Written by Hanna Rosin, who published on Patrick Henry College some years back, the article considers whether men are fit for modern society.  Here’s a snatch:

Even more unsettling for Ericsson, it has become clear that in choosing the sex of the next generation, he is no longer the boss. “It’s the women who are driving all the decisions,” he says—a change the MicroSort spokespeople I met with also mentioned. At first, Ericsson says, women who called his clinics would apologize and shyly explain that they already had two boys. “Now they just call and [say] outright, ‘I want a girl.’ These mothers look at their lives and think their daughters will have a bright future their mother and grandmother didn’t have, brighter than their sons, even, so why wouldn’t you choose a girl?”

As one can see, these are significant stories, pieces that have considerable implications for life in modern America.  There are major shifts afoot; huge pressure is upon the church of God to conform to society.  Exactly how things will play out one cannot know, though we do know that a Man figures in rather prominently in the last days.  For some that is a consolation; for some it is a curse.