Moralistic, Theraputic, Deism

Ray VanNeste:

Christian Smith has written a brief article condensing his research on the religious beliefs of American teenagers. It is well worth reading. He argues that the functional religious of American youth (which as he says they learned from the adults around them) is “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” This is the functional religion even though many identify themselves as Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, or Muslim. His assessment squares well with what I see going on around me.

If you have not had the chance to read Christian's article, I would highly recommend it. The Gospel speaks a completely different message.