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A Nation of Osteens and Obamas

posted on May 18, 2012

In his article for The Washington Post’s OnFaith section, Ross Douthat poses the question of what “if a foreign visitor … wanted to understand the state of religion in America today.” The visitor would see “Joel Osteen preach to a sold-out house” and “Obama defend his shift” on gay marriage “on explicitly religious grounds.” Douthat uses the “hypothetical foreigner” to examine religion and politics in the United States, noting that “the cultural tug-of-war between the Christian right and the secular left” is not as clear-cut as we think it is. “We’re a nation of Osteens and Obamas,” according to Douthat, neither “rigorous Richard Dawkins-style atheists” nor the “equally rigorous Pope Benedict XVI-style Catholics.” 

Read at The Washington Post