Current location:	sofa
Current mood:	pensive
Current music:	Handel, Serse
Entry tags:	religion/church

religion watch: "who speaks for the quasi-religious?"
David Brooks's editorial in this morning's New York Times is titled "The Catholic Boom," but it's also about "who speaks for the quasi-religious," arguing that "quasi-religious people often drive history" (citing the influence of Abraham Lincoln, quasi-religious Victorian Protestants, and quasi-religious 20th century Jews):

...there are at least two things we know about flourishing in a modern society.

First, college students who attend religious services regularly do better than those that don’t. As Margarita Mooney, a Princeton sociologist, has demonstrated in her research, they work harder and are more engaged with campus life. Second, students who come from denominations that encourage dissent are more successful, on average, than students from denominations that don’t.

This embodies the social gospel annex to the quasi-religious creed: Always try to be the least believing member of one of the more observant sects. Participate in organized religion, but be a friendly dissident inside. Ensconce yourself in traditional moral practice, but champion piecemeal modernization. Submit to the wisdom of the ages, but with one eye open.

The problem is nobody is ever going to write a book sketching out the full quasi-religious recipe for life. The message “God is Great” appeals to billions. Hitchens rides the best-seller list with “God is Not Great.” Nobody wants to read a book called “God is Right Most of the Time.”