“Independent of the critique I'm making, I'm just trying to paint a more comprehensive portrait of American religion than you get from a right versus left, religious conservatives versus secular liberal, believer versus atheist, binary. Too often, we just look at religion in America through that kind of either/or lens. I think it's much more complicated than that.” ThinkingTryingLooksKindAmericaLeftReligiousIndependentPaintAtheistComplicatedBelieverSecularPortraitsVersusLensesComprehensiveCritiqueBinaryEither Or Author:Ross Douthat
“Institutional Christianity has had clear secular benefits to American life for hundreds of years. It's played both a prophetic role in terms of generating moral critiques of American excesses, and so on, and also a communal role, in terms of building community as the country moved westward to the role my own Catholic Church played in assimilating generations of immigrants.” YearsCountryTermCommunityChurchMy OwnMoralChristianityRolesClearGenerationsBuildingBenefitsCatholicMovedImmigrantsExcessSecularCatholic ChurchCritiqueAmerican LifePropheticBuilding Community Author:Ross Douthat
“Many things about American life, that even secular people consider good, have flowed from the presence of a robust, resilient institutional Christianity.” PeopleChristianitySecularResilientRobustAmerican Life Author:Ross Douthat
“The fact that institutional churches have gone into decline doesn't mean that we're going to enter some purely secular age. Secular people need to be aware of that.” PeopleNeedsMeanFactsAgeChurchGoneDeclineSecular Author:Ross Douthat
“What replaces Christianity isn't going to be Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and so on. It's going to be something else and something secular people may not like very much.” PeopleMayChristianitySecular Author:Ross Douthat
“I think it is fair, in a way, to describe certain forms of Marxism, for instance, as the secular equivalent of a religion. But, I think the same is true, to a certain extent, of secular liberalism as well.” ThinkingWayWellsFormCertainFairsInstanceLiberalismSecularMarxism Author:Ross Douthat
“If you're willing to recognize the religious element in one secular ideology, you need to be able to recognize it in your own.” IfsNeedsAbleReligiousWillingElementsIdeologySecular Author:Ross Douthat
“I think that secular liberals need to recognize that they are still, often, hanging their worldview on what are metaphysical ideas.” ThinkingNeedsStillsIdeasSecularMetaphysicalWorldview Author:Ross Douthat
“Even secular people can't really escape from the need to rest their ideas on some belief, some sort of commitment that is not scientific commitment.” PeopleNeedsIdeasBeliefCommitmentSecular Author:Ross Douthat
