Moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD) is a term that was first introduced in the 2005 book ''Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers'' by the sociologist Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton. The term is used to describe what they consider to be the common beliefs among young people in the United States. The book is the result of the research project the National Study of Youth and Religion.

Definition

The authors' study found that many young people believe in several moral statutes not exclusive to any of the major world religions. It is not a new religion or

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

as such, but identified as a set of commonly held spiritual beliefs. It is this combination of beliefs that they label ''moralistic therapeutic deism'': These points of belief were compiled from interviews with approximately 3,000 teenagers.

Authors' analysis

The authors say the system is "moralistic" because it "is about inculcating a moralistic approach to life. It teaches that central to living a good and happy life is being a good,

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

person." The authors describe the system as being "about providing therapeutic benefits to its adherent" as opposed to being about things like "

repentance Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past or present wrongdoings, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better. In modern times, it is generally seen ...

from

sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

, of keeping the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

, of living as a

servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

of a sovereign divine, of steadfastly saying one's

prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

s, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through

suffering Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence (psyc ...

…" and further as "belief in a particular kind of God: one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one's affairs – especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved." The remoteness of God in this kind of

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

explains the choice of the term ''

deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

'' even though "the Deism here is revised from its classical eighteenth-century version by the therapeutic qualifier, making the distant God selectively available for taking care of needs." It views God as "something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he's always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process." The authors state that "a significant part of

Christianity in the United States Christianity is the predominant religion in the United States though sources disagree on the numbers. A Gallup survey from 2023 indicates that, of the entire U.S. population (332 million), about 67% is Christian (224 million). The categories ...

is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but has rather substantially morphed into Christianity's misbegotten stepcousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." Kenda Creasy Dean, author of the 2010 book ''Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church'', notes, "The problem does not seem to be that churches are teaching young people badly, but that we are doing an exceedingly good job of teaching youth what we really believe: namely, that Christianity is not a big deal, that God requires little, and the church is a helpful social institution filled with nice people…" She goes on to say that "if churches practice Moralistic Therapeutic Deism in the name of Christianity, then getting teenagers to church more often is not the solution (conceivably it could make things worse). A more faithful church is the solution… Maybe the issue is simply that the emperor has no clothes." Moralistic therapeutic deism is often inclusive of different religions. As one teenage study participant said,

Criticism

The originators admit that "no teenager would actually use the terminology 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deist' to describe himself or herself" (See " xenonym"). Some critics have taken issue with the term's use of the word ''deism'', while others have defended it stating that Smith and Denton are right that both the Enlightenment deists and the adherents of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism believe in a generic kind of monotheism in which all religions worship the same God. Joseph Waligore points out that there are several other important features that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and Enlightenment deism share. Both believe that people do not need scriptures, churches, or ministers to have a personal relationship with God. Both think God only demands moral goodness from people and doesn't care what religion, if any, people believe in. Both emphasize God's total fairness and goodness, which leads both kinds of deists to reject many religious doctrines.

Commentary

Writer Damon Linker suggested in a 2009 blog post that moralistic therapeutic deism, while theologically "insipid", is "perfectly suited to serve as the

civil religion Civil religion, also referred to as a civic religion, is the implicit religious values of a nation, as expressed through public rituals, symbols (such as the national flag), and ceremonies on sacred days and at sacred places (such as monuments, bat ...

of the highly differentiated twenty-first century United States", a contention that was disputed by Collin Hansen,

Ross Douthat Ross Gregory Douthat ( ; born November 28, 1979) is a conservative American author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of '' The Atlantic''. He has written on religion, politics, and society. Early life and education Ross Gr ...

, and

Rod Dreher Ray Oliver Dreher Jr. (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher, is an American conservative writer and editor living in Hungary. He was a columnist with ''The American Conservative'' for 12 years, ending in March 2023, and remains an edito ...

Definition

Authors' analysis

Criticism

Commentary

See also

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links