Whimsical Sociology professor Dr. David Carlin:

On the downward spiral of American Catholics to Generic Christianity.

"[W]e may say that the creed of Generic Christianity has four articles:

"(1) God exists and loves everybody in a non - judgmental way;

"(2) Jesus is one of the most admirable figures in human history, and is a model of Christian goodness.

"(3) we must be tolerant of people whose beliefs, tastes and lifestyles are different from our own;

"(4) to at least some degree, we should help our fellow - humans to achieve temporal prosperity and happiness...."


Snippets from his article, Thick and thin Catholicism, featured in the Homiletic & Pastoral Review. May 2010.

Here, he states that post - Vatican II bishops "presided over -- without putting up any strong resistance to -- the decline of authentic Christianity among vast numbers of Church members and its replacement by something that might better be called Generic Christianity, by which I mean a thin religious faith that drops most of the distinctive elements of the Catholic religion. (10)"


Now, for his foot note!


"(10) With only a small amount of exaggeration, we may say that the creed of Generic Christianity has four articles.

"(1) God exists and loves everybody in a nonjudgmental way;

"(2) Jesus is one of the most admirable figures in human history, and is a model of Christian goodness.

"(3) We must be tolerant of people whose beliefs, tastes and lifestyples are different from our own;

"(4) to at least some degree, we should help our fellow - humans to achieve temporal prosperity and happiness..."