Terry Mattingly does his usual good job covering religion. He writes a weekly column for Scripps Howard news that is then run in papers around the world.

Terry writes:

The trend is clear. Vague talk is safer than clear action. Personal beliefs are good, but not if these doctrines lead to actions that indicate that some beliefs are right and others wrong.

Seeking is good, but finding is bad. Judging is even worse.

My personal favorite "Terry Mattingly" location is his web site, getreligion.org, an important location on my Bloglines reader. I have mentioned them twice before on the blog.

You can read his coverage of two recent research projects here.

My contribution was:

"There is a sense in our culture that is acceptable to believe in anything spiritual, as long as it makes you a better person and helps you find peace," said Ed Stetzer, leader of the LifeWay Research team. "One's faith only becomes a problem when that belief actually makes claims that contradicts the faith of others."

In an age of "I'm OK, You're OK" spirituality, he added, "American spirituality has glorified 'searching' for spiritual meaning, but de-emphasized 'finding.' In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith. ... Intolerance is defined to mean actually believing that your faith is the correct one."

Terry always moves beyond research to analysis and I was impressed.

Here are my full answers to his questions.

On there being one way.

The change between the "higher or supreme being" question and "the God described in the Bible," would seem to say that Americans want "God," but they are not as sure they want to say God is the exclusive biblical God of Christianity.

For that matter, there is a sense in our culture that is acceptable to believe in anything spiritual, as long as it makes you a better person and helps you find peace.

One's faith only becomes a problem when that belief actually makes claims that contradicts the faith of others. Since Christianity (and other faiths) make exclusive truth claims, it becomes controversial when Christians (and others) start to actually believe and propagate the claims of their faith.

On generic faith.

As best I can tell, those who are not a regular part of a faith community still want to be "spiritual" people, but without a clear faith.

As an evangelical Christian, I would say that many fashion a tame God in their own image-- a generic god for a generic spirituality, not a God who actually intervened in the world through the death of Christ and calls us to follow and live differently.

For many, they want to get all the benefits of spirituality without any of the truth claims of a rigorous faith.

On Spirituality

I think the Oprah-ization of American spirituality has glorified "searching" for spiritual meaning but de-emphasized "finding." In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith and want to invite others to such.

In "I'm O.K., You're O.K. Spirituality," the only sin is intolerance... and intolerance is defined to mean actually believing your faith is the correct one.

On why conservative churches grow even when the majority of Americans lean toward a universalistic faith.

Non-attendees want to ignore a generic God, but when/if they follow a faith, they want one that has robust beliefs and is worth following.

Since growing churches tend to have more defined belief systems, when people start a journey to faith, they want something they see as worth believing and giving their life to. A generic god is hardly one worth committing to.