First up is Sheila Larson. She’s the founder and sole adherent of “Sheilaism.” Yet her views are quite representative of many Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) and even some Gen-Xer’s (who came after them). Ms. Larson and those like her do visit our churches, and often sit under our preaching. Ms. Larson, a nurse, was made famous by Robert Bellah in his 1985 book, Habits of the Heart. Ms. Larson (and those who think as she does) invent and then practice their own religion, oftentimes extensively borrowing religious cliches and stereotypes, all grounded in a self-referential epistemology – “I feel.” The Bible is fine with such folks, but only so long as what they hear does not disrupt their superficial level of feeling. The lens through which adherents and practitioners of Sheilaism tend to evaluate all religious claims, including the ones you’ll be making from the pulpit, is a vague sense of approval, or a cringe of discomfort. A feeling of approval is good. Discomfort is bad.
Ms. Larson’s creed is quoted by Bellah:
“I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice . . . It’s just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think He would want us to take care of each other.”[2]
Bellah points out the by-now obvious implication; “Sheilaism” creates the logical possibility “of over 300 million American religions, one for each of us.” Bellah notes that Sheilaism is “a perfectly natural expression of current American religious life.” Those who think like Ms. Larson–a surprising large number of middle age and older Americans do–base all religious commitment upon subjective, self-referential feelings and emotions. If Descartes could say “I think, therefore I am” (ironically grounding human knowledge in doubt), a consistent “Sheilaist” might quip, “I feel, therefore its true for me.” This is aptly lampooned by my late Lutheran friend Rod Rosenbladt, who calls such self-referential epistemologies the “liver shiver.”
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD)
A second ideological category which we will encounter are younger Millennials (those born in the mid-nineties) along with members of Gen-Z (younger still). Young adults and older teens overwhelmingly embrace (without knowing it) a web of vague religious convictions identified as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” is a label coined by sociologist Christian Smith in his 2005 book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.[3] Smith’s book was based upon 3000 interviews, conducted by Smith and his co author, Melinda Denton, as part of a project conducted by the “National Study of Youth and Religion.” Smith coined the label “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” to describe widely-held religious beliefs of American youth (across all religions and cultures). Commonly held beliefs of these “Moralistic Therapeutic Deists” include:
1). The belief that a god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2). The belief that God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3). That the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4). The belief that God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5). It is assumed that all good people go to heaven when they die.American Civil Religion
A third intellectual category of people are adherents of American Civil Religion–another ill-defined set of convictions, yet characterized by an “anti” or “apathetic” doctrinal ethos. Aristotle was correct when he noted that men and women are political animals.[4] So we should not be surprised that there are many professing Christians for whom politics seems to be the “be all to end all.” I have lost count of the times I have witnessed a professing Christian’s eyes glaze over when a discussion turns to some important, but technical point of Christian theology. Everything about their demeanor and body language cries out “not interested.”
Yet those same people immediately light up and become animated if the discussion turns to some hot-button political issue. Many Christians lack the basic theological categories needed to understand the dual citizenship Christians possess (cf. Philippians 3:20). Yet, many of these same people can quote the latest analysis heard on a podcast, or recount the fine details of the political debate they heard on cable news programming the previous evening. It is not a bad thing for a Christian to be interested in politics. I am interested in politics. But it is important for Christians to keep politics in its proper place, and view the ups and downs of the civil kingdom through a biblically informed filter which keeps the civil kingdom and Christ’s kingdom in proper tension. To do that requires understanding more than a few fine points of Christian theology. But adherents of civil religion are not interested in the fine points of Christian theology. They want to know for whom you are voting. They often expect you to see things the way they do. If not, they vote with their feet. Read more»
Kim Riddlebarger | “Preaching and Apologetics” | August 18, 2025
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Kim Riddlebarger
Kim is a graduate of Simon Greenleaf School of Law (M.A.), Westminster Seminary California (M.A., M. Div.), and Fuller Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). From 1995–2020 he was senior pastor of Christ Reformed Church (URCNA) in Anaheim. He was a long-time co-host of the White Horse Inn radio show and is currently Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary California. Follow his work at The Riddleblog.
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