Some Comments on Bad Religion by Ross Douthat

I actually finished reading this book a couple of weeks ago. I really want to comment on this. Ross Douthat is an interesting person in his own right. He is the youngest columnist for the New York Times -- and he is the token conservative. He is a Catholic Christian and he is concerned about the church and its role in society.

Douthat starts by going through the history of the church in America following WWII, through the 60s, 70s and 80s and on to the present. The 50s were really a hay day for the church in America. Theologians and church people had great influence -- Reinhold Niebuhr was a major influence in the church and the nation as a whole. Bishop Sheen was a "rock star" on television. Karl Barth and Paul Tillich were on the cover of Time Magazine. Then Billy Graham came along. From my limited experience, those I met respected the church. Certainly they did not all attend -- nor necessarily believe -- but there was respect. 

As we moved into the 60s and 70s, we experience huge changes in society; Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. The church wanted to be relevant; some "liberal" churches changed their orthodox believes in order to be relevant. Others -- seeking to stay true to their orthodox beliefs became more fundamentalist and lost almost all of their relevancy. The Gospel preached began to change. 

Douthat singles out the "Feel Good -- Health and Wealth" gospel -- especially as espoused by Joel Osteen. He is a pleasant fellow who has many followers -- but he doesn't preach a traditional gospel. I remember the time in the early 80s when Howard Ervin, professor at Oral Roberts University and Bible teacher for our Holy Spirit Conference at the Green Lake conference grounds, stated that the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement was in danger by an heresy being taught in some circles -- the Health and Wealth Gospel.

On the other hand, Douthat discusses people like Glenn Beck. Beck seems likable enough -- I find him interesting. He is a Mormon and seems to be espousing a Christianity/Civil religion around Patriotism. Unfortunately, this is certainly a heresy. In fact, one of the big problems with conservative Christianity in America today (in my opinion) is to fail to distinguish between the kingdom of God (the church under the Lordship of Christ) and one of the kingdoms of this world (The Government of the United States.) They aren't the same; never were, never will be, never should be. Please don't get me wrong -- I love America. I do know our religious background. I do think the church should stand for the truth of the Gospel and those principles in America which were built on those truths -- but the Government -- and certainly the Democratic or Republican parties are not part of the Kingdom of God. 

This book is well worth reading. It will make you think. If you are somewhat like me, there will be some things that you really affirm, others that you have to think about. Even though Douthat is coming from a little different background than Greg Boyd, this had a similar premise to Greg's The Myth of a Christian Nation also well worth reading.