Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat is usually known as the Conservative Columnist at The New York Times. Not the crazy kooky Conservative brand but the intellectual I challenge the left brand of Conservative.

From this point forward he should be known as one of the best research and religion writers you will find.

Douthat's new book examines American Christianity and the steep decline of Orthodoxy in all of the mainline churches in this country. While no church denomination has suffered for the exact same reasons as the others there are commonalities which when examined can show both what has gone wrong for the churches and how this might possibly be corrected, and if indeed stronger orthodox churches make the country stronger.

The book came at a very interesting time for me. About a week before I picked it up to read my son asked my wife and I if things were always this way. He went on to say that it seemed like in today's culture you could say anything, or do anything and it was ok, that no one criticized. This question brought a few responses to mind. I do not believe when your sixteen year old son gives you a chance to discuss something significant that you should give a flat answer and send him on his way.

I told my son that he was correct. We were in a time of political correctness and that sometimes that seemed to blur the distinctions between right and wrong, or as he out in normal or not. Firstly I think to a great extent I should be thankful that my son has lived sheltered enough that he does not feel that people criticize for things they do not agree with.

I also told him that, as he knew, one of my biggest issues was the lack of a shared experience or even a shared sacrifice in this country. I advised that I felt that the center in our country had drifted and continues to drift so that while it is good to be inclusive we are losing many of the commonalities which can make a people or citizenry cohesive.

To some extent Douthat's book talks about these issues, although more from the perspective of a religeous center.

In the book he takes us through the history of American Catholicism and Protestant churches focusing extensively on the revival of the Orthodox churches after World War II. It was as if the Depression and War had made people pull back from their flirting with the modernist movement in religion and realize that the God and Religion of home and family and small town America on Sunday mornings could have a great value.

We see that in the sixties as with most everything in our society we drifted from the center of religion. The famous Cover asking " Is God Dead?" was a result of people feeling we may be in a post religion or post Jesus religion. The problem as Douthat sees it is that soon a huge accommodation was made to all the modern influences. The Catholic and mainline Protestant churches were faced with the choice to change and stay " relevant" in the increasingly changing and splintering society or hunker down and face dwindling membership. In most cases the churches changed and modified.

I remember going to a Church in the nineties. It was a nice church, nice people but I did not feel religion in the building. I felt like I was at a supper club, or some sort of Civic group. Jesus Lite I called it but looking back I do not even know if it was Jesus lite. Jesus was revered but I am not sure he was followed.

What became of the churches that accommodated. They shrunk anyway. The Mainline churches continued to shrink in influence through the seventies, into the eighties and the trend continues today.

The churches that have grown in the time since the seventies have for the most part been in two different companies. There have been the Evangelicals and the Megachurches.

Mr. Douthat examines these in great detail. The megachurches seem to prosper, indeed do prosper, but their take on the Bible is suspect at best. What these churches seem to do is to take a part of Jesus's message which suits their purposes and downplays the rest.

The rise of prosperity preachers draws the strong ire of the author. Wondering how Jesus's statements on wealth can be made to agree with the ask and receive prayers of these churches, the God wants you to live a life of plenty, is a bit of logistical twisting that I cannot follow. Interestingly the classic example of this is Joel Osteen the Dallas based Minister who has perhaps the largest congregation in the country, a publishing and media empire, and who never fails to preach about the God of wealth and prosperity for his followers. I have read an Osteen book. I enjoyed it. I guess I have the ability to pick out the good, the positive message, the exhortations on how to deal with negative people and such while chuckling at his ask and receive prayer style.

In short I like some of his anecdotes but I think Osteen is more a motivational speaker than a pastor. Douthat examines churches that have their parishioners believe that failure to accomplish their material goals is a reflection on how hard they prayed not the fact that sometimes God does not give you what you want because he knows better.

Discussing Maryanne Williamson, Oprah, Derek Chopra and other personalities that celebrate the self, and your answers are in yourself he has not much good to say. Having often felt that I just could not feel good about the Oprah bandwagon without putting my finger on why he gave me a better understanding how celebration of self and self healing inevitably leads one away from orthodoxy.

A minister that Douthat hails as promising in his ability to speak to the wide world without modifying the true message of Christ is Tim Keller. I wholeheartedly agree. Keller's books and his sermons are some of the best you will ever hear. With a foot in the modern world but a foot in the orthodoxy of the church he is as good as it gets.

In the end what is the answer. Douthat asks all of us , religious and not to ask if orthodoxy does more good than bad. Does not the country prosper when the center holds. While the minority should not be run roughshod over there is something to be said for their being an expected and anticipated center of our culture. Religion can be divisive, we all know that, but we must also be careful not to make it so centrally themed that it is one size fits all. When we do that we do not need to really work at it. Religion and faith is a work in progress. It is a muscle that must be used each and everyday.

I cannot say this book is an easy read. It is not. Douthat is intellectual, he does not dumb it down, in fact he does not use the anecdotal easiness many writers in this subject matter choose. I had to read several sections a couple of times to really have a feel for what he was saying.

It was greatly worth my time. If you want to have a picture of the crisis in American churches in the postwar period this book will paint it brightly.

A fantastic, thought provoking book.