Ross Douthat Goes to the Belly of the Beast Georgetown To Talk Bad Religion

My gosh I sound like anti Catholic  Jimmy Swaggert :)   .

Ross Douthat went to Georgetown to debate his book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics.

Thought a more detailed article shall be coming these folks from IMD have a nice post on it that is worth a read. See “Bad Religion” at Georgetown

I hope this back and forth that Ross had gets online somehow. I would like to watch it.

Here is a part:

....Fr. Carnes offered his rejoinder. He confessed that he thoroughly enjoyed Bad Religion. He worried that Douthat may have praised the 1950s too much. The author later contested that speaking appreciatively of any era carries the risk of romantic portrayals of bygone days. Douthat observed, “There are no golden ages in history.” He pointed to several examples of obvious decline in churchly religion. Time magazine featured Reinhold Niebuhr on its cover while Fulton Sheen hosted a popular television program. One helpful contrast was the cultural force that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Billy Graham wielded through their pastoral offices. Their succeeding heirs were Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson, both of whom sought powerful political office and engaged in petty party squabbles.


The progressive bent of the Georgetown government professor became increasingly evident during his commentary. “I like to think we’re in a radically different world,” he said. He thought the theological accomplishments of the 1950s were limited since only 25% of the American population had a college education and television was barely starting to emerge. He praised the benefits of “mass education and mass communication” that have since developed. Douthat demurred: “I’m not sure if our ‘more highly educated society’ and its discourse is as elevated as it was back then.” Carnes also bemoaned the recent “polarization of women’s religious orders.” Douthat, himself a Catholic, noted that the radically liberal women religious nevertheless have significant doctrinal issues as evidenced by their invitation of New Age speaker Barbara Marx Hubbard to their annual conference. Carnes regretted the traditional Catholic conception orthodoxy, “too often a lock-step rigidity with the Magesterium.” The IRD staffers all exchanged knowing smirks with each other; such statements generally belie a sympathy for revisionist theology. Despite these disagreements, the conversation between Carnes and Douthat remained incredibly cordial, belying the graceful character of both speakers.....

I agree that the 50's should not be viewed with a uncritical eye. It's clear that Fortress Catholicism had some cracks in it. However there are those that hold a too much negative view of it too.

The fact is Catholic Protestants, and now with Evangelicals catching up we are one of the more illiterate generations as to Biblical knowledge. This has been noted by people that have to teach the Liberal arts that are not believers in the Christian Doctrine.

Yet this is the generation that thinks The Holy Spirit is revealing to them that doctrines handed down from a to z are to change.