Confucian vs. Christian Family Values

Anecdotal thoughts about the family question

The ideal American/Western family is grounded in the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Modern consumer society has ground down paternal authority in the West, but paternal power has been on the wane ever since the Holy Family included the most famous cuck in Western Civilization — Joseph. Joseph was honored and sainted for hir forebearance. Chinese and Taiwanese men haven’t figured out how to play their roles in the family as easily as Christian men, mostly because the Bible sainted the relatively powerless male head of a nuclear family in a way that Confucianism never did.

The Chinese speaking, Confucian system fathers who try to be happy at home are either Christian converts or are trying to adopt Western models of being that give their patriarchal roles some domestic dignity.