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"moralistic therapeutic deism."


Kevin Christensen

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Interesting article about US trends, teenagers as Fake Christians, instead following a what a commentator calls "fuzzy moralistic theraputic deism."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_latest+(RSS:+Most+Recent)

The exceptions? From the article:

In "Almost Christian," Dean talks to the teens who are articulate about their faith. Most come from Mormon and evangelical churches, which tend to do a better job of instilling religious passion in teens, she says.

No matter their background, Dean says committed Christian teens share four traits: They have a personal story about God they can share, a deep connection to a faith community, a sense of purpose and a sense of hope about their future.

Kevin Christensen

Pittsburgh, PA

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As always, it appears the bottom line is a "testimony"- a personal experience and connection with God.

I think the confusion may be between "self esteem" which is actually rooted in pride- the sense that I deserve to feel good about myself regardless of how I act because nothing is "really wrong" vs those with a personal experience of God and a true sense of one's divine potential regardless of the fact that we sometimes do not measure up to that potential.

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"fuzzy moralistic theraputic deism."

Reminds me of Alma 18:5, "Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that whatsoever they did was right..."

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"If your church can't survive without a certain number of members pledging, you might not want to preach a message that might make people mad," Corrie says. "We can all agree that we should all be good and that God rewards those who are nice."
An observation that would be familiar to most LDS.
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