Hi Everyone,
Though this article is a bit schollarly, I think it's point is clear and
simple.
What do you think?
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vinny Samarco" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 11:14 AM
Subject: A Nation of Deists!
> . |
> Cultural | Departments | Thoughts
> A nation of deists
> The dominant American religion is a far
cry
> from
> Christianity | by Gene Edward Veith
>
>
>
> (World Magazine
> June 25, 2005.)
>
> Sometimes recognizing a problem requires
> finding
> the right words to name it. Christian
Smith
> and
> Melinda Lundquist Denton have coined a
> phrase
> that describes perfectly the dominant
> American
> religion: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.
> Those authors are researchers with the
> National
> Study of Youth and Religion at the
> University of
> North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and have
> written up
> their findings in a new book: Soul
> Searching:
> The Religious and Spiritual Lives of
> American
> Teenagers (Oxford University Press).
> After interviewing over 3,000 teenagers,
the
> social scientists summed up their beliefs:
> (1) "A god exists who created and ordered
> the
> world and watches over human life on
earth."
> (2) "God wants people to be good, nice,
and
> fair
> to each other, as taught in the Bible and
by
> most world religions."
> (3) "The central goal of life is to be
happy
> and
> to feel good about oneself."
> (4) "God does not need to be particularly
> involved in one's life except when God is
> needed
> to resolve a problem."
> (5) "Good people go to heaven when they
> die."
> Even these secular researchers recognized
> that
> this creed is a far cry from Christianity,
> with
> no place for sin, judgment, salvation, or
> Christ. Instead, most teenagers believe in
a
> combination of works righteousness,
religion
> as
> psychological well-being, and a distant
> non-interfering god. Or, to use a
technical
> term, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."
> Ironically, many of these young deists are
> active in their churches. "Most religious
> teenagers either do not really comprehend
> what
> their own religious traditions say they
are
> supposed to believe," conclude Mr. Smith
and
> Ms.
> Denton, "or they do understand it and
simply
> do
> not care to believe it."
> Another possibility is that they have
> learned
> what their churches are teaching all too
> well.
> It is not just teenagers who are
moralistic
> therapeutic deists. This describes the
> beliefs
> of many adults too, and even what is
taught
> in
> many supposedly evangelical churches.
> Mr. Smith and Ms. Denton recognize this.
MTD
> has
> become the "dominant civil religion." And
it
> is
> "colonizing" American Christianity. To the
> point, these secular scholars conclude, "a
> significant part of Christianity in the
> United
> States is actually tenuously Christian in
> any
> sense that is seriously connected to the
> actual
> historical Christian tradition, but is
> rather
> substantially morphed into Christianity's
> misbegotten step-cousin, Christian
> Moralistic
> Therapeutic Deism."
> Consider how many Christian publications,
> sermons, and teachings are nothing but
> moralism.
> Sometimes morality is reduced to the
> simplistic
> MTD commandment "be nice," though often
real
> morals are inculcated. But the common
> assumption
> is that being good is easy, just a matter
of
> knowing what one should do and trying
> harder.
> The biblical truth that bad behavior is a
> manifestation of sin, a depravity that
> inheres
> in our fallen nature, is skimmed over. And
> so is
> the solution to sin: a life-changing faith
> in
> Jesus Christ.
> Consider how many Christian publications,
> sermons, and teachings are primarily
> therapeutic. It is true that Christ can
> solve
> many of our problems. But much that passes
> for
> Christian teaching says nothing about
> Christ.
> Instead, it consists of pop psychology,
> self-help platitudes, and the power of
> positive
> thinking.
> Consider how many Christian publications,
> sermons, and teachings talk about God in a
> generic way, but say nothing about the
> Father,
> who created and still sustains the world;
> the
> Son, who became Incarnate in this world to
> win
> our salvation; and the Holy Spirit, who
> works
> through the Word of God to bring us to
> faith.
> Christianity is about grace, not moralism;
> changing lives, not making people feel
> better
> about themselves; the God made flesh, not
an
> uninvolved deity. And that is better news
> than
> Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. â?¢
> Copyright © 2005 WORLD Magazine
> June 25, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 25
>
>
>
>
>
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