In theory, a "real Christian man" should perhaps be someone who eschews violence of all sorts, who turns the other cheek whenever they are struck, and who insists on favoring peace over war no matter what the circumstances. That's the theory, at least, but it's rarely the reality. Not only have many Christian men throughout history eagerly engaged in violent combat, but not a few have treated combat as a test of one's Christian manliness.
The links between a willingness to fight in war or to violently confront one's enemies on the one hand and disdain of women and homosexuality on the other should not be underestimated. War is a task for "real men" and women are excluded from combat roles while gays are excluded from the military entirely. If women and gays were allowed to openly and equally fight alongside heterosexual men, how could combat remain a sign of heterosexual masculinity?
That this is also linked with Christian Nationalism is curious. In America there have been several movements to disentangle Jesus from meek pacifism. Many conservative evangelical leaders have promoted a vision of Jesus as confrontational, assertive, aggressive, combative, and even a little violent. This "Battling Jesus" is willing to step up to take direct, even violent action in the name of a just cause.
Once Jesus could be seen as a "man's man," ready and willing to let his fists do his talking rather than meekly turn the other cheek, it couldn't have been too difficult to link war and combat, manliness and heterosexuality, with Christianity and the proper social roles of Christian men. A great deal of this is probably due to the need of evangelical Christianity to conform to the social mores of the antebellum south where masculinity was commonly defined by gambling, drinking, duels, and the violent defense of personal honor. How great is the difference between engaging in duels to defend "personal honor" and going to war to defend a nation's "international credibility"?
Today efforts to insist that America's fight against "Islamofascism" is a test of Christianity and of America's masculine resolve almost cries out for ridicule and satire. It's the theme of Jesus' General, which was an inspiration for the above image. The original was a World War II poster exhorting workers to "Keep 'em Fighting" because "Production Wins Wars." Is it coincidence that for an image promoting fighting, they chose a bare-chested man holding something awfully large and suggestive?
