Moralistic therapeutic deism

Last updated

Moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD) is a term that was first introduced in the 2005 book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by the sociologist Christian Smith [1] with Melinda Lundquist Denton. [2] The term is used to describe what they consider to be the common beliefs among young people in the United States. [3] [4] [5] The book is the result of the research project the National Study of Youth and Religion. [6]

Contents

Definition

The authors' study found that many young people believe in several moral statutes not exclusive to any of the major world religions. It is not a new religion or theology as such, but identified as a set of commonly held spiritual beliefs. It is this combination of beliefs that they label moralistic therapeutic deism:

  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. [7]

These points of belief were compiled from interviews with approximately 3,000 teenagers. [8]

Authors' analysis

The authors say the system is "moralistic" because it "is about inculcating a moralistic approach to life. It teaches that central to living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person." [9] The authors describe the system as being "about providing therapeutic benefits to its adherent" as opposed to being about things like "repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, of steadfastly saying one's prayers, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through suffering…" [10] and further as "belief in a particular kind of God: one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one's affairs – especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved." [11]

The remoteness of God in this kind of theism explains the choice of the term deism even though "the Deism here is revised from its classical eighteenth-century version by the therapeutic qualifier, making the distant God selectively available for taking care of needs." It views God as "something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he's always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process." [12]

The authors state that "a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but has rather substantially morphed into Christianity's misbegotten stepcousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." [13] Kenda Creasy Dean, author of the 2010 book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church, [14] notes, "The problem does not seem to be that churches are teaching young people badly, but that we are doing an exceedingly good job of teaching youth what we really believe: namely, that Christianity is not a big deal, that God requires little, and the church is a helpful social institution filled with nice people…" [15] She goes on to say that "if churches practice Moralistic Therapeutic Deism in the name of Christianity, then getting teenagers to church more often is not the solution (conceivably it could make things worse). A more faithful church is the solution… Maybe the issue is simply that the emperor has no clothes." [16]

Moralistic therapeutic deism is often inclusive of different religions. [9] As one teenage [17] study participant said,

Morals play a large part in religion. Morals are good if they're healthy for society. Like Christianity, which is all I know, the values you get from, like, the Ten Commandments. I think every religion is important in its own respect. You know, if you're Muslim, then Islam is the way for you. If you're Jewish, well, that's great too. If you're Christian, well good for you. It's just whatever makes you feel good about you. [9]

Criticism

The originators admit that "no teenager would actually use the terminology 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deist' to describe himself or herself" (See "xenonym"). [9] Some critics have taken issue with the term's use of the word deism, [18] while others have defended it stating that Smith and Denton are right that both the Enlightenment deists and the adherents of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism believe in a generic kind of monotheism in which all religions worship the same God. Joseph Waligore points out that there are several other important features that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and Enlightenment deism share. Both believe that people do not need scriptures, churches, or ministers to have a personal relationship with God. Both think God only demands moral goodness from people and doesn't care what religion, if any, people believe in. Both emphasize God's total fairness and goodness, which leads both kinds of deists to reject many religious doctrines. [19]

Commentary

Damon Linker, an anti-religious pundit, suggested in a 2009 blog post that moralistic therapeutic deism, while theologically "insipid", is "perfectly suited to serve as the civil religion of the highly differentiated twenty-first century United States", [20] a contention that was disputed by Collin Hansen, [3] Ross Douthat, [21] and Rod Dreher. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

Deism is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are exclusively logical, reliable, and sufficient to determine the existence of a Supreme Being as the creator of the universe. More simply stated, Deism is the belief in the existence of God—often, but not necessarily, an impersonal and incomprehensible God who does not intervene in the universe after creating it, solely based on rational thought without any reliance on revealed religions or religious authority. Deism emphasizes the concept of natural theology—that is, God's existence is revealed through nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury</span> English soldier and poet (1583–1648)

Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury KB was an English soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher.

Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural Christians</span> People who appreciate Christianity primarily because of its cultural legacy

Cultural Christians are those who received Christian values or appreciate Christian culture. They may be non-practicing Christians, non-theists, apatheists, transtheists, deists, pantheists, or atheists. These individuals may identify as culturally Christian because of family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.

Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian Modernism, is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by prioritizing modern knowledge, science and ethics. It emphasizes the importance of reason and experience over doctrinal authority. Liberal Christians view their theology as an alternative to both atheistic rationalism and theologies based on traditional interpretations of external authority, such as the Bible or sacred tradition.

A personal god, or personal goddess, is a deity who can be related to as a person (anthropomorphic), instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute. In the context of Christianity and other Abrahamic religions, the term "personal god" also refers to the incarnation of God as a person. In the context of Hinduism, "personal god/goddess" also refers to Ishtadevata, a worshipper's personal favorite deity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Chubb</span> English Deist writer (1679–1747)

Thomas Chubb was a lay English Deist writer born near Salisbury. He saw Christ as a divine teacher, but held reason to be sovereign over religion. He questioned the morality of religions, while defending Christianity on rational grounds. Despite little schooling, Chubb was well up on the religious controversies. His The True Gospel of Jesus Christ, Asserted sets out to distinguish the teaching of Jesus from that of the Evangelists. Chubb's views on free will and determinism, expressed in A Collection of Tracts on Various Subjects (1730), were extensively criticised by Jonathan Edwards in Freedom of the Will (1754).

Criticism of atheism is criticism of the concepts, validity, or impact of atheism, including associated political and social implications. Criticisms include positions based on the history of science, philosophical and logical criticisms, findings in both the natural and social sciences, theistic apologetic arguments, arguments pertaining to ethics and morality, the effects of atheism on the individual, or the assumptions that underpin atheism.

In the history of religion and philosophy, deus otiosus is the belief in a creator God who has entirely withdrawn from governing the universe after creating it or is no longer involved in its daily operation. In Western philosophy the concept of deus otiosus has been associated with Deism since the 17th century, although not a core tenet as often thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious views of George Washington</span> Washingtons views regarding religion, based on his writings and observed activity

The religious views of George Washington have long been debated. While some of the other Founding Fathers of the United States, such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Patrick Henry, were noted for writing about religion, Washington rarely discussed his religious and philosophical views.

Thomas Morgan was an English deist.

Christian Stephen Smith is an American sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents and emerging adults, sociological theory, philosophy of science, the science of generosity, American evangelicalism, and culture. Smith is well known for his contributions to the sociology of religion, particularly his research into adolescent spirituality, as well as for his contributions to sociological theory and his advocacy of critical realism.

Ietsism is an unspecified belief in an undetermined transcendent reality. It is a Dutch term for a range of beliefs held by people who, on the one hand, inwardly suspect – or indeed believe – that "there must be something undefined beyond the mundane which may or may not be possible to be known or proven", but on the other hand do not accept or subscribe to an established view of the nature of a deity offered by any particular religion. Some related terms in English are agnostic theism, advocates of eclecticism, the perennial philosophy, deists, or those who are spiritual but not religious.

Theistic rationalism is a hybrid of natural religion, Christianity, and rationalism, in which rationalism is the predominant element. According to Henry Clarence Thiessen, the concept of theistic rationalism first developed during the eighteenth century as a form of English and German Deism. The term "theistic rationalism" occurs as early as 1856, in the English translation of a German work on recent religious history. Some scholars have argued that the term properly describes the beliefs of some of the prominent Founding Fathers of the United States, including George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson.

The religious views of Thomas Jefferson diverged widely from the traditional Christianity of his era. Throughout his life, Jefferson was intensely interested in theology, religious studies, and morality. Jefferson was most comfortable with Deism, rational religion, theistic rationalism, and Unitarianism. He was sympathetic to and in general agreement with the moral precepts of Christianity. He considered the teachings of Jesus as having "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," yet he held that the pure teachings of Jesus appeared to have been appropriated by some of Jesus' early followers, resulting in a Bible that contained both "diamonds" of wisdom and the "dung" of ancient political agendas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian deism</span> Philosophy of religion

Christian deism is a standpoint in the philosophy of religion stemming from Christianity and Deism. It can often refer to Deists who believe in the moral teachings—but not the divinity—of Jesus. Corbett and Corbett (1999) cite John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as exemplars.

Deism, the religious attitude typical of the Enlightenment, especially in France and England, holds that the only way the existence of God can be proven is to combine the application of reason with observation of the world. A Deist is defined as "One who believes in the existence of a God or Supreme Being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason." Deism was often synonymous with so-called natural religion because its principles are drawn from nature and human reasoning. In contrast to Deism there are many cultural religions or revealed religions, such as Judaism, Trinitarian Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and others, which believe in supernatural intervention of God in the world; while Deism denies any supernatural intervention and emphasizes that the world is operated by natural laws of the Supreme Being.

The evangelical Lausanne Movement defines a nominal Christian as "a person who has not responded in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord"...[he] "may be a practising or non-practising church member. He may give intellectual assent to basic Christian doctrines and claim to be a Christian. He may be faithful in attending liturgical rites and worship services, and be an active member involved in church affairs." American Reformed theologian Douglas Wilson disagrees with the category of "nominal Christian" and argues that all who are baptized enter into a covenant with God, and are obliged to serve him; there is, therefore, "no such thing as a merely nominal Christian any more than we can find a man who is a nominal husband." There are, however, "wicked and faithless Christians."

Catholicism and Deism are two theologies that have opposed each other in matters of the role of God in the world. Deism is the philosophical belief which posits that although God exists as the uncaused First Cause, responsible for the creation of the universe, God does not interact directly with that subsequently created world. As deism is not organized, its adherents differ widely in important matters of belief, but all are in agreement in denying the significance of revelation in Christian Scripture and Tradition. Deists argue against Catholicism by either, only considering Scripture to be a helpful moral tool, or denying: its divine character, the infallibility of the Church and Traditions, and the validity of its evidence as a complete manifestation of the will of God. Deism is first considered to have manifested itself in England towards the latter end of the seventeenth century.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Patel 2012, pp. 140, 182.
  2. ↑ Smith 2005, p. iv.
  3. 1 2 Hansen, Collin (20 April 2009). "Death by Deism". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Veith, Gene Edward (25 June 2005). "A Nation of Deists". World. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers". National Study of Youth and Religion. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Smith 2005, p. 4.
  7. ↑ Smith 2005, pp. 162–63.
  8. ↑ Mohler, R. Albert Jr. (18 April 2005). "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – the New American Religion". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Smith 2005, p. 163.
  10. ↑ Smith 2005, pp. 163–64.
  11. ↑ Smith 2005, p. 164.
  12. ↑ Smith 2005, p. 165.
  13. ↑ Smith 2005, p. 171.
  14. ↑ Blake, John (27 August 2010). "Author: More Teens Becoming 'Fake' Christians". CNN. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  15. ↑ Dean 2010, pp. 12–13.
  16. ↑ Dean 2010, pp. 23–24.
  17. ↑ Smith 2010, p. 42.
  18. ↑ O'Brien 2012, p. 428.
  19. ↑ Waligore, Joseph. The Spirituality of the English and American Deists.2023, p.259
  20. ↑ Linker, Damon (7 April 2009). "The Future of Christian America". The New Republic. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  21. ↑ Douthat, Ross (14 April 2009). "Theology Has Consequences". The Atlantic. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  22. ↑ Dreher, Rod (10 April 2009). "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Right for America?". Crunchy Con. Beliefnet. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2020.

Bibliography

  • Dean, Kenda Creasy (2010). Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-531484-7.
  • O'Brien, Breda (2012). "Going Beyond the Divisions". Studies. 101 (404): 423–430. ISSN   0039-3495. JSTOR   23333133.
  • Patel, Eboo (2012). Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN   978-0-8070-7748-1.
  • Smith, Christian (2005). Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. With Lundquist Denton, Melina. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/019518095X.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-803997-6.
  •  ———  (2010). "On 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism' as US Teenagers' Actual, Tacit, de Facto Religious Faith". In Collins-Mayo, Sylvia; Dandelion, Pink (eds.). Religion and Youth. Farnham, England: Ashgate. pp. 41–46. ISBN   978-0-7546-6768-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.