moralistic therapeutic deism

from Thin Places, by Amy Julia Becker
on Faith, Family, and Disability
http://blog.beliefnet.com/thinplaces/

Patheos ran an interview with Kenda Cressey Dean, author of the new book Almost Christian: about the religious/spiritual views of American teenagers. It's a fascinating, if sobering, interview. Here's an example:

You refer to this "moralistic therapeutic deism" quite a bit in your book. Can you unpack this term for us?

That's the name the NSYR came up with to describe the "belief system" of the majority of teens surveyed. The shorthand of moralistic therapeutic deism is that religion helps you feel good and do good, but God pretty much stays out of the way. Now, you can call on God if you need God to solve a problem, but God's track record on solving problems is pretty bad. So the primary God-images that the kids had were either as the "cosmic therapist" or the "divine butler." The therapist serves as the one who helps you feel good about yourself; the guidance counselor image comes to mind here when working with teenagers. The divine butler is somebody who comes when called upon but otherwise stays away. Those images were identified in the study as being dominant among teenagers. And that was very true with the teens I talked to as well. They believe that:

A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions.
The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
God does not need to be involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem.
Good people go to Heaven when they die.

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/thinplaces/#ixzz0sODdDVDL