WARNING! WARNING! The most popular religion in America... what is it? Its not Christianity. Its also not Islam, Judiasm, Buddhism, Taoism, or any other religious “ism”.
According to Christian Smith, a professor and associate chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the National Study of Youth and Religion, the number one religion in America is something called "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD).
Mr. Smith conducted an extensive research project aimed at discovering the religious and spiritual beliefs held by U.S. teenagers. After hundreds of discussions about religion, God, faith, prayer, and other spiritual practices, the youth of America summarily referred to their beliefs in such bizarre ways that Smith and his team labeled the hodgepodge of beliefs with a humanistic definition... Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This religious attitude is characterized by five fundamental 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 all 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."
This is a religion that is far more about comfort, individualism and conformity that it is about meaning, calling, and sacrifice. What makes it particularly challenging is that it is not offered through a new MTD movement or denomination. It is actually catching on and being practiced in churches where leaders think of themselves as traditional orthodox Christian. Here’s a run down of the impact the key aspects of MTD are having in the Church:
Moralistic – Do Good attitude.
This is the belief that the Gospel can be reduced to improvements in behavior. This moralistic approach to life believes that central to living a good and happy life is being a good, moral person. That means being nice, kind, pleasant, respectful, and responsible; working on self-improvement; taking care of one’s health; and doing one’s best to be successful.
The Christian leader that is inclined naturally toward moralism, will begin to avoid the cross as the means of salvation, justification and sanctification. They will shame families and congregations into doing better and deal harshly with those who fail to perform to the level of acceptable behavior. To deal with the pressures of ministry, a man declares himself as moral in comparison with other Christian leaders. The true standard for morality is Jesus Christ and no one can attain morality without His righteous imputation (Romans 4:3-8). Moralism or behavior modification will not help anyone gain favor with God or ease life’s pressure.
Therapeutic – Be Nice and Smile.
This is the belief that adherents enjoy psychological benefits by participating in something good. This is not a religion of repentance from sin or living as a servant of the holy sovereign God. Rather, it is about feeling good, being happy, secure, at peace. It is about attaining subjective well being, being able to resolve problems, and being nice to people. It is doing good things so that you feel good about yourself.
Church leaders who have taken the first step of avoiding the cross, will lean toward this solution as the way to marginalize the effects of sin. They might be inclined to resign from ministry to find a more favorable environment. This person focuses only on the positives and avoids conflict at all costs—even if compromise of principles is necessary.
Many well-meaning Christian leaders offer therapeutic solutions to the problems we face. They suggest that we need hobbies or retreats or new routines. One preacher said that to deal with his stress, he listens to soothing music, hangs around good friends, gets a massage and shoots guns. Apparently, he shoots guns to compensate for his other less masculine practices to cope with pressure. Another preacher said “I take mental holidays while I am at church during the week.” What does that mean? Holidays from what? Finally, another preacher said, “I have a note card that I wrote to myself inside my desk. It simply says, ‘Lighten up and smile.’” I wonder if that note card works if he or a family member contracts a terminal illness? These men are giving spiritual advise to hurting congregants who are trying to comprehend the nature of sin and the existence of God. When churches and pulpits are filled with these ideas, it’s no wonder moralistic therapeutic deism is thriving in America.
Deism – Just Do it.
This is the belief in a God who exists, created the world, but leaves you alone to do your thing. In this belief, God is like a Divine Butler who waits for you to call upon Him to intervene or a Cosmic Genie who grants your wishes. If things do not go as one expects, God gets the blame.
Deism is the natural response of a leader who avoids the cross. If fact, this leader really doesn’t believe in a sovereign God. But he likes church work. To get the job done, so he has to get a consultant, or get more educated or get systems and structures to fix the problems he faces. He has a tendency to work on the superficial structures of his personal life and to align his life with leadership maxims and pragmatic quick fix ideals. He adapts quickly to methods that are good rather than adopting principles that guide. These may not be the stated principles he verbalizes, but his actions and attitudes show this is how he functionally operates.
MTD is not an official religion, which makes it all the more dangerous to those seeking to know the true God. The implication of all of this is that the philosophies of MTD are dominating churches, pulpits, books, and counseling and coaching sessions. God, Jesus, the Bible, prayer, all being slowly but certainly marginalized to insignificant.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism cannot sustain a life. It cannot build a community. It cannot call people to take up a cross. Young people, raised in the Church, are embracing MTD as their religion under many names, forms variations and themes. Many older adults are embracing these themes in a quest for unity and brotherhood. MTD is capturing our culture in such deep ways that we’re hardly aware that it threatens the foundations of Christian faith.
We now face the challenge of evangelizing a nation that largely considers itself Christian, overwhelmingly believes in some deity, considers itself fervently religious, but is loosing its identity and connection to historic Biblical Christianity.
Sadly, we have failed our children, the Church has failed our children. Our failure to teach this generation of teenagers the realities and truths of Biblical Christianity will mean that their children will know even less and will be even more readily seduced by this new form of paganism.
MTD is a pathway to eternal destruction. Concerned Christians must understand how to combat MTD and build a Biblical strategy to combat this insidious evil. Leaders cannot be seduced by the good feeling expressions of MTD! Leaders... PREPARE the Church to respond to the threat of this new religion!
Moralistic Therapuetic Deism CANNOT stand against Biblical TRUTH, PRAYER, OBEDIENCE, REVERENCE, CONFESSION, SERVICE to OTHERS, STUDY, FORGIVENESS, BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER, FELLOWSHIP and BROTHERHOOD. Be armed for the fight... for it is against unseen spirits!
