Which Way Do Men Face

I was recently reading a thread on NewOrderMormon,
http://forum.newordermormon.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29014
I really like the following post by Inquiring Mind.

Starburst Queen wrote:

Men leaving the church (or becoming disaffected) more than women:

This is something that has never made sense to me. Maybe it is because polygamy is one of my "big" issues. It's hard for me to understand why there aren't more women leaving due to the imbalance of power, leadership opportunities, and other assorted "benefits" -- available to men only in the church.

I've wondered this myself. If the Church offers a better deal to men than it does to women, why do more men leave? I think there are answers. First, women are, on average, more religious than men: women are more likely than men to believe in God, to pray daily, and to attend church (according to research done by the Pew Research Center.)

Second, it would seem to me (as a male citizen-psychologist) that the social and emotional support network that the Church offers to women, and the teaching of moral values to children that the Church offers, are more important than doctrinal and historical problems to women who value the social and moral support network. I would speculate that the security of belonging to a community and the security of a belief in an afterlife are more important to many women than whether or not JS's translation of the BoA matches the Egyptologists' version. A large portion of women are feminist in their views and the patriarchy bothers them, but a large portion also aren't feminists and don't mind the patriarchy.

Third, I've also heard that religions that tend to be somewhat oppressive to women (like Islam) are more likely to have women stay in the religion because the women have invested more and sacrificed more.

If I was bigot making broad generalizations, I'd say that men tend to be more logical on average than women, and as such, logical problems in the Church would bother men more than women. Since the primary appeal of Mormonism seems to be emotional rather than logical, it makes sense that people who were more emotionally-oriented would be more likely to join and stay, which is why we see a lot of crying at the pulpit during meetings and so few scientists among the GAs.

On the polygamy issue, I don't think that most men are too bothered by it in principle (because humans are naturally polygynous according to evolutionary psychologists,) but we are bothered by the dishonesty surrounding polygamy and the polyandry.

I've read several of the posts on FacesEast.org and they are indeed heartbreaking. Most of them say essentially the same thing: "My husband told me that he doesn't believe in the Church anymore and isn't sure if he believes in God. I feel betrayed, confused, and angry." The feelings of betrayal indicate to me that religion is less about God than it is about human relationships, and the feelings of betrayal indicate to me these women's primary attachment to the Church is social, not doctrinal.

The fact that many of the women on FacesEast.org seem unwilling to consider the information that lead to their husband's disaffection shows me that, for these women, the sense of community they get from the Church and the feelings of security they get from the beliefs are more important than whether or not the Church is literally true.

Starburst Queen, I'd also say that men are subject to the same fallacies of logic in an effort to maintain the feelings of security and community. I went through the same process and I'm willing to admit that the social aspect of Church and the security of the belief in an afterlife were big reasons why it took some time to finally face the facts. I liked how easy it was to meet girls at ward activities and I still don't know how I'm going to meet girls outside the Church. I liked the idea that I'd get my own planet or galaxy after I died, and giving that up was hard. It was only in the face of overwhelming evidence that I was finally able to consider the facts.