Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics

Ross Douthat. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. New York: Free Press, 2012. 337pp. $26.00, ISBN 9781439178300.

In Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat examines some of the most significant changes that have occurred in U.S. religious life since the 1950s. He explores the impact that the declining significance of both institutional and orthodox Christianity has had on religious, social, and political life. With an eye for detail and the skill of an experienced reporter, Douthat weaves together historical, social scientific, and journalistic data to tell a compelling story about how the American church wandered away from a golden age at mid-century, an era during which Christianity enjoyed significant cultural and political influence, and has found itself, in recent decades, besieged by popular heresies. Rather than simply writing another book documenting the decline of institutional religion, however, Douthat's primary concern here is diagnosing the conditions that have contributed to the current state of affairs. He also suggests a way forward for those that might like to see orthodox Christianity regain influence in American culture and society.

Despite what commentators and popular critics claim, Douthat argues that the problem with contemporary American religion is not growing secularism or unrelenting religious fanaticism. Rather, the most significant challenge facing religion in the United States is unchecked heresy among ordinary religious citizens (3). Over the past sixty years, religious denominations and leaders have increasingly adopted heretical approaches to belief and practice in well-meaning efforts to reconcile faith with modern perspectives on a number of issues including science, sexuality, and politics (65-81). Such shifts, Douthat argues, seek to make faith more palatable to the public by deemphasizing important tensions that exist in Scripture, doctrine, and tradition and by encouraging overly simplistic methods for dealing with dilemmas posed by social and cultural change (81). He suggests that such shifts may ultimately rob Christianity of its power to influence society.

Bad Religion is an extremely well- written book. I found Douthat's style of writing to be highly readable and his method of integrating historical and social scientific data with anecdotal stories from contemporary religious life to be an effective way of supporting his overall thesis. Part I of Bad Religion...