I have written before in this blog about the contrast between generic, Judeo-Christian civil religion and authentic Christian faith in a secular pluralistic culture. Kenda Creasy Dean’s article “Faith, Nice and Easy” (Christian Century, August 10, 2010, pp. 22 ff) analyzes the National Study of Youth and Religion. While the study and her article focus on youth and what kind of faith churches are forming in youth, I believe her assessment is applicable to how churches are defining faith for adults as well as youth.
She calls the defective but popular model of faith Moralistic Therapeutic Deism which she says “does not and cannot stand on its own” but infiltrates traditional faith communities unaware that it is very different than orthodox Christianity. She presents a definition or “creed” for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism this way.
1. A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over 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 feel good about yourself.
4. God is not involved in my life except when I need God to solve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.
If a clause was added suggesting that the United States enjoys some favored status with this god, it would pretty well represent generic, Judeo-Christian civil religion. I believe that this Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is not only inadequate for life in a secular, pluralistic society, it is impotent for God’s redemptive transformation through Jesus Christ. By way of contrast Kenda Creasy Dean refers to the Exemplary Youth Ministry study funded by the Lilly Foundation for the characteristics of congregations that do not fall prey to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Again, I believe these qualities are important for adults as well as youth in any viable church. They will:
1. portray God as living, present and active.
2. place a high value on scripture.
3. explain their church’s mission, practices and relationships as inspired by the life and mission of Jesus Christ.
4. emphasize spiritual growth, discipleship and vocation.
5. promote outreach and mission.
6. develop a positive, hopeful spirit; live out a life of service; and live a Christian moral life.
(I think that this was published in The Christian Century and not a fundamentalist periodical is telling. It certainly is not because fundamentalists are immune to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. They just hang their own words and symbols on it, as do self-identified evangelicals and liberals.)
As a pastor I have aspired to live what she calls “the transforming presence of God in life and ministry,” and I have endeavored to celebrate it in the lives of people in the congregations I have served. Yet, over the years I have observed (with some puzzled amazement) that many church members resist (or at least ignore) this transformative faith and prefer a bland Moralistic Therapeutic Deism by which God can be domesticated and kept on the periphery of life.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, even with Christian words and symbols hung all over it, is profoundly self-centered and ingrown. Church comes to be about comforting me, inspiriting me, feeding me, satisfying my preferences and tastes, meeting my expectations. Authentic Christian faith is always outward oriented, taking its cue from Jesus, whom Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “the man for others.” An authentic Christian congregation is about mission. It seeks to draw in new people, not so the institution can survive and grow but so people can be transformed by Jesus Christ. The article quotes Jean-Luc Marion who said that “the ethic of giving is the telltale sign that God’s image is under construction in us.”
I am not interested in critiquing other congregations or the congregation I am presently serving. Rather, my passion continues to be to awaken in others a compelling hunger for intimacy with Jesus that propels us into total involvement in the mission of Jesus. I ache for my own life and the lives of fellow pilgrims on the Christian journey to be transformed by and into authentic Christian faith and live together in community as we journey together with Jesus.
