Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ns-mx!iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus! bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Anger & Dating for the first time: Message-ID: Date: 27 Sep 90 07:33:24 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 29 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article charlie@lindy.stanford.edu (Charlie Channel) writes: >A related question is, Within a congregation, are there more women >than men? My experience is that, generally, there are more women >around -- eligible women -- than men. I am curious about what others have >observed. And, for the sake of discussion, I'd like to know if anyone >feels that there are more women because (1) they're more sociable and >(2) they have a higher sense of spiritual need? It has been my experience in the churches to which I have had exposure (Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian) that single women tend to outnumber single men, just as married women outnumber married men. Married men often find their way onto church rolls regardless of whether they have ever attended or not, simply because their wives attend. I suppose you could say that women have, not necessarily a higher sense of spiritual need, but that more women are responsive to the church as a means of spiritual expression. (I believe that men are powerfully conditioned by society to avoid religion, in general.) My experience when I was single was that single women who came to church to socialize often were very introverted people who expected the church to constitute the entirety of their social lives; not exactly because they were "more sociable". The "more sociable" women who came to church often did so because (in my estimation) they found it a good place to meet sensitive men without diseases. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com