Please check out this interview of Dr. Christian Smith of the University of North Carolina. Dr. Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion studied the religious beliefs of American teenagers, and they found that the faith described by most adolescents came down to what the researchers identified as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” This “faith” consists of beliefs like these: 1. “A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.” 2. “God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.” 3. “The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.” 4. “God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.” 5. “Good people go to heaven when they die.”
Questions to ponder include: How does Moralistic Therapeutic Deism measure up to the faith revealed in the Bible and proclaimed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? What is your reaction to the researcher’s assertion that parents are the single biggest influence on the beliefs and behaviors of American teens? What implication does this work have for how you interact with kids? To what extent are adults in the pews really believers in Moralistic Therapeutic Deism?
You can listen to this 25 minute interview by clicking HERE.
