Thursday, March 15, 2007 —

It was in 19th century Victorian Britain that two terms were put together to spell out a new approach to a healthy spiritual life for men. "Muscular Christianity" was used by the English authors Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hughes to describe a life that was vigorously masculine but also rich in Christian belief and aspiration. It was a phrase that also became the motto for many English private boarding schools, which taught the Christian faith and also subjected young men to cold showers and the delights of winter sports, like rugby union and cross-country running.

In tonight's program, my colleague John Donvan explores the 21st century manifestation of this ideal here in America. He spends time with a group of almost 300 "GodMen" at a Tennessee shopping mall. They are evangelical in theology and are challenging the way Christianity has been taught to men. They want their faith to embrace and express their manliness. They want to challenge feminism. They want to promote a Jesus who is more muscular and masculine than meek and mild.

And these men are adamant that their movement is not a back door attempt to reposition men as superior or in authority over women. To some extent, it is an evangelical expression of something that has been happening in broader society, where men have complained about being emasculated and undermined (particularly in relation to divorce proceedings and the rights of fathers).

Our second story tonight could go one of two ways. ABC's Barbara Walters interviewed the controversial Venezeulan leader Hugo Chavez this week. On the heels of President Bush's tour through Latin America, President Chavez has been touring the region to expand his own influence. We may take a look at some of what is sure to be a groundbreaking interview.

We may also take a look at a tale of American ingenuity emerging from a great American tragedy. The founders of a new restaurant called Colors all worked at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. In the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, they lost 73 colleagues. They've joined together to create a new restaurant where each of them has a stake in its success -- co-workers and co-owners. My colleague Terry Moran reports on a very American enterprise by a very diverse international team, bonded by loss.

For our last piece of the evening, ABC's Nancy Cordes has a story about a Massachusetts minister with a surprisingly good fashion sense. She'd been secretly offering tips on the Internet -- but now she's out in the open.

So, it's real men, real Christians; the fashion minister; and a third story to be determined tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And in case you're wondering, I did play rugby union, and I also ran cross-country, but I did not attend an austere English boarding school.

I do hope you'll join us this evening.

Martin Bashir and the rest of the "Nightline" team

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