First Things, Oct 2012, Pious Perversions by Harry S. Stout - A Review of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by Ross Douthat
The best part of Bad Religion appears at the end, where Ross Douthat identifies problematic modern Christianities that, by conventional standards, stand as heretical alternatives to the gospel message of sacrifice, charity, asceticism, and worship of the transcendent. Of these contemporary heresies, civil religion, or what Douthat terms “political theology,” emerges as perhaps the most heretical betrayal of Christianity because it encourages Americans to believe that patriotism is, in its essence, a Christian enterprise. The “heresy of nationalism” expressed as a belief in American “exceptionalism” and America as the “New Israel” has also distorted traditional faith in deeply erosive ways.Related Posts:
Bad Religion by Ross Douthat
Where the Rot Started?
Andrew J. Bacevich - American Exceptionalism Is Dead
American Exceptionalism
American Exceptionalism, Part Two
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