Review of Ross Douthat's "Bad Religion"

It's fitting that the release of Ross Douthat's new book happened to coincide with the death of Charles Colson, because reading "Bad Religion" reminded me so much of Colson's critiques of culture and of the church.

With the waning of Christian influence in American culture since the 1960s, Douthat claims the vacuum has been filled not with "no religion" but with "bad religion." In other words, though conservative Christians fear--and militant atheists proclaim--the eventual triumph of secularism, what we're seeing instead is "the rise of a variety of destructive pseudo-Christianities" where "traditional Christian teachings have been warped into justifications for solipsism and anti-intellectualism, jingoism and utopianism, selfishness and greed."

The book begins with a review of American Christianity immediately following World War 2, "an era of intellectual confidence, artistic vitality, pews full to bursting, and a widespread sense that traditional Christian faith and contemporary liberal democracy were natural partners." Though he will later close the book with a caution that "true golden ages do not exist," in this first part of the book he makes a pretty good case as to why the 40s and 50s came close. Regardless, Douthat continues in the first part of his book to chronicle how American Christianity quickly lost its influence on the American culture.

The second half of the book describes the "bad religion" that has resulted. He describes the fascination with supposed "lost" Christianities in which people hope to find a Jesus more to their liking. He exposes the winsome version of "name-it-and-claim-it" theology espoused behind the toothy grin of Joel Osteen. He explores the popularity of the "God Within" beliefs of Elizabeth Gilbert and Oprah Winfrey. Finally, he turns his attention on Glen Beck and others who co-opt Christian language and loyalties for the cause of nationalism.

Though expressing pessimism about a recovery, he concludes the book with a few suggestions on how a robust and faithful Christianity might return.

Cross-cultural missionaries are careful students of the social environment they enter. Faithful American Christians who recognize that they are "on mission" within their own country will read "Bad Religion" to better understand the culture in which we serve. It may also serve as a critique of some of the ways our own churches (and we ourselves) have drifted into "bad religion."

As I said, in volumes on my bookshelf from 20 years ago, Charles Colson criticized each of the four failings Douthat highlights. It's good to know that, upon the week of Colson's passing, that mantle has been passed to another worthy observer.