moralistic therapeutic deism

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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2005 neologism (coined by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton in Soul searching: the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, Oxford University Press, 2005).

Noun

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moralistic therapeutic deism (uncountable)

  1. A diffuse notion of theism and morality, which need not be tied to any particular religious creed, found to be common among early 21st century American teenagers.
    • 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism' indicates the young people's view is that religion is 'good for you' in so far as it provides people with a moral framework (Sara Savage, Sylvia Collins-Mayo, Making sense of Generation Y: the world view of 15- to 25-year-olds, 2006, p. 50)