138 enrichment / Spring 2010

I’m Just Your Typical Moralistic Therapeutic

Deist

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Chris Michaels, Bethel Church’s youth pastor, sits at the information book table on the university campus. The Chi Alpha pastor invited him to engage students in conversation regarding their religious beliefs, but all he gets in return are shrugs and “whatever” to his questions.

But then Ashley comes and they strike up a conversation. Ashley is a 17-year-old freshman who considers herself religious, saying she received many of her beliefs from her mother. Like 40 percent of her peers, she attended a weekly religious service back home. (The par-ticipation in religious services is much less with the remainder of her peers.) But like the others Chris met, it is hard to get Ashley to talk about her religious beliefs because she feels they are best held privately. Chris figures she is afraid to speak openly about her beliefs for fear they will prove to be too divisive, especially when she is with her friends.

enrichment / Spring 2010 139

Nevertheless, she tells him she believes in a God who created the world and watches out for people. She thinks God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, and that good people will go to heaven when they die. The goal in life, Ashley maintains, is to be happy and to feel good about herself. When Chris asks, “Does God get personally involved in your life?” she tells him He does, but only when she needs Him to solve a problem.

Like the vast majority of her incom-ing freshman class, Ashley is a moralis-tic therapeutic deist. Never in her wild-est imaginations would she call herself that, but according to Smith and Denton in their book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Ameri-can Teenagers,1 a moralistic therapeutic deist describes Ashley and her peers on today’s campuses. Smith and Denton conducted The National Study of Youth and Religion, which at the time was the largest and most comprehensive study ever conducted on American teenage religion and spirituality. The teenagers they interviewed are now walking on today’s university campuses.

For the church leader who sincerely desires to see collegians come to faith in Christ and grow into marketplace ministers, you need to understand what makes university students tick and get in touch with their spiritual world-view. In this article I give an up-to-date profile of today’s university student and unpack what it means to be a moralistic therapeutic deist.

MoralisticA moralistic therapeutic deist believes if you are going to live a happy life you need to be a good, moral person. According to Smith and Denton, teen-

agers say a moral person is nice, kind, respectful, responsible, works on self-improvement, takes care of his health, and

does everything possible to become a success. In other words, being moral means being the kind of person other people will like, someone who reaches her full potential. Whatever you do, do not be obnoxious or judgmental.

As you can see, this understanding of morality does not express a relation-ship with God nor is it grounded in a coherent belief system. Rather each individual is the source and standard of moral knowledge and authority. It is a student’s personal experience, not revealed truth that determines what is authentic, right, and true.

Glen Davis, Chi Alpha mis-sionary at Stan-ford University, describes the stu-dents he encoun-ters this way: “What it really comes down to is that even the kids raised in church just do not understand the gospel. Usually that means they are legalists, and I suppose in a technical sense they are; but they are legalists who do not have any reasonable laws. They have a func-tional works-righteousness without even a clear vision of good works. For example, they seem content with recy-cling and supporting gay rights. And the ‘Guy-in-the-sky’ is pretty reasonable and is going to understand their heart and how hard it is to be good with so many temptations around them, and He will give them a pass, not because of Jesus but because He is just so nice.”

TherapeuticA moralistic therapeutic deist expects his belief system to personally benefit and improve him. As Smith writes, “This is not a religion of repentance from sin … of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, of steadfastly saying one’s prayers … of building character through suffer-ing, of basking in God’s love and grace, of spending oneself in gratitude and love for the cause of social justice. … Rather, what appears to be the actual dominant religion among U.S. teenagers

is … about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace.”

One 15-year-old Protestant girl from Florida says, “God is like someone who is always there for you. … He is just like somebody that will always help you go through whatever you are going through. When I became a Christian, I was just praying and it always made me feel better.” She is happy with her religion because it helps her achieve the primary goal of her life: to feel good and happy about herself and her life. It does not bother her that she is unable to articulate the beliefs that

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Harvey a. HerMan, DSL, is the Chi Alpha national director of missionary training. Contact him at HarvXA@gmail.com, or visit http://www.harvsallyherman.net

It appears only a small fraction of U.S.

students are absorbing the content and character of the

religious traditions within which they are being raised. iStockphoto

underscore her faith.The search for happiness, security,

and peace leads many of today’s students into self-absorption. Mike Godzwa, Chi Alpha missionary at The American University in Washington, D.C., tells the story of Suzy. “When Suzy entered AU, she faced more than a few per-sonal problems. Several students and I worked hard to welcome her into the group; but the more we gave, the more she demanded. In every situation she insisted on being the center of atten-tion. Even though this strained many relationships, we bent over backward to show Suzy love and kindness. Abruptly, Suzy left Chi Alpha for another group. My last contact with her was an e-mail from her requesting that I remove her from our e-mail list — and that with-out even a thank you.”

Like many students, Suzy is the center of her own universe and she believes everyone exists to benefit her and make her happy. She holds the same expecta-tion of God: “He exists to heal me, help me, and make me happy, but only when I call on Him.”

Peter Bullette, Chi Alpha missionary at the University of Virginia, deals with students this way. “I have found my response to the moralistic therapeutic deist-minded student is to consistently bring him back to the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. I do this to draw him to a Jesus-centered gospel, versus a me- centered gospel. It draws him to a place of understanding that to truly follow Jesus and to live in His kingdom is to treasure Him above all else, and so with great joy we give up whatever is needed to follow Jesus. No matter what it costs

us to follow Jesus, it is a great deal. He is the treasure. I feel like it cuts right to the heart of moral therapeutic deism.”

DeismA moralistic therapeutic deist holds a truncated view of God. This deistic God exists, created the world, established the natural order, but then walked away from His creation and does not get involved in the personal affairs of humans. He especially does not get involved in the affairs students prefer He not get involved with. The deistic God keeps a safe distance from His cre-ation. Teenagers in this study describe Him as “watching over everything from above … like He is watching a play.”

A deistic God only gets involved in students’ lives when they call on Him or need Him to solve a problem. Smith says, “God is something like a combi- nation Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: He is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, profes- sionally helps His people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process.” It sounds like God-on-demand.

It appears only a small fraction of U.S. students are absorbing the content and character of the religious traditions within which they are being raised. The language of happiness, niceness, and future reward is replacing the language and experience of Trinity, godliness, sin, mercy, salvation, redemption, suffering, sanctification, heaven, and hell.

Closing ThoughtsPlease do not confuse moralistic therapeutic deism with any organized religion. Its credo simply reads, “Don’t worry; be happy.” Today’s students are merely reflecting a culture-of-the-unde-manding God. This God will never challenge their most basic self-centered assumptions about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As a leader in the church, you face the challenge of evangelizing a genera-tion that for the most part considers itself Christian, believes in “God,” considers itself deeply spiritual, but distrusts the organized church, and evidences practically no connection to orthodox Christianity. Consider this: What will it be like when these students raise their kids on the faith-of-the-undemanding God?

If there was ever a time to make a priority of reaching collegians for Christ, I cannot imagine a more crucial time. Carefully consider the collegians in your city as the most strategic mis-sion field available to you and your local church.

noTeS 1. Christian Smith and Melinda Lunquist Denton, Soul

Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

I’m Just your Typical Moralistic Therapeutic Deist (continued from page 139)

A deistic Godonly gets involved

in students’ lives when

they call on Him or need Him to solve a problem.

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140 enrichment / Spring 2010