Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Christian Smith has stated that the de-facto new religion of the American teenager is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. The complete article is here.

Smith further defines the creed of this new religion in following 5 points:

1. A God exists who created and orders 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 he is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Smith goes on to argue that not only is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism the dominant religion among teenagers, but that it has become the dominant religion of American culture.

Here is a sobering thought - how many of your facebook "friends" who self-identify as "Christian" have no issues with the above 5 points? How many people in your church? In your home?

How many of us know enough applied theology to confront those who hold to this view? How many of us can properly articulate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need it so desperately?