Christianity Evolving?

Mothers of Christian teenagers, beware. According to a new study, it is possible that your child just thinks God wants them to feel good about themselves, and try to be good people.

Aparrently, an "impostor" to proper Christianity has risen up, which the study calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." According to this study, teens across the country say they are Christians, believe they are Christians, but in reality, they "that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good." Scandalous!

The study goes on to complain that teenagers are indifferent and inarticulate about their faith, and that while they seem to believe in God, they don't have a drive to make others do so. Kenda Creasy Dean, author of "Almost Christian," has become a self-appointed crusader to raise awareness about this new horrible threat to our children. She particularly raises concern that teenagers are "inarticulate" about their faith. She raises several other points, which if you want to know more about you can view the CNN article here or perhaps her book, but from what I gleaned after reading the former was that her argument basically boils down to the following statement:

Many teens are practicing a religion that motivates them to be kind, compassionate, and willing to help other people. It has moved them to volunteer their time at various charities, treat others with respect, and generally be more self-aware with regards to their own adherence to a moral code. However, they are losing the dogma and specific rules that really make Christianity what it is. They aren't "witnessing" to spread their faith to others. They're even skipping church! We need to stop the proliferation of this pretender to the throne!

And an article detailing this "threat" made the front page of cnn.com

The good news is that if the study can be believed, this "pretender religion" is actually the dominant form of worship among American teens. If that's true, I think there's hope for this country yet.