Thought for the Day

Religious practice in contemporary America is shaped by and large by consumerism, the latest stage of capitalism. Consumerism has shaped American religion in the sense that religion has for many become simply another aspect of life to be understood in terms of choice, acquisition, and exchange. It is a commodity among others, or at least a way of attaining commodities. The point of the religious belief that is professed and practiced by most Americans is not that it is faithful to a particular historical tradition or even that it offers an intelligible account of the world in which they live. Americans want their religion first of all to be helpful--that is, they want it to be conducive to living a successful, worry-free life. One's religion need not be true except for the singular individual believer. Religion thus tends to be less about faithfulness to a tradition or a communal way of life than about individual empowerment.
--Joel James Shuman and Keith G. Meador, Heal Thyself: Spirituality, Medicine, and the Distortion of Christianity