Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

I read an article about a belief system called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. According to the article is a rather popular belief system amongst teenagers. The main ideals are that a creative God exists, he wants us to be good moral people, he wants us to be happy with ourselves, he is not too involved in our lives unless we need him to resolve a problem, and good people go to heaven when they die. It sounds pretty simple and straightforward. However, I am not too sure what to think about it. The article criticized Moralistic Therapeutic Deism as not being totally consistent with any real religion, but a new one that pick and chose aspects from other established religions.

To me, this seems to be somewhat of a middle ground between a religion and a utilitarian philosophy. Although the existence and dependence on God is noted, the relationship between God and man is very minimal. There is a stress on finding happiness, and a slight reliance on God, but neither seems to outweigh the other. I don’t fully agree with this belief system, but I honestly don’t have much of a problem with it.

Of course, most of the information provided in the article is based on the supposed beliefs of teenagers. I am not sure how reliable the information is, as teenagers still have much more to learn/experience. Furthermore, many are likely to be a bit confused on what they actually believe. I suppose that in time they will eventually develop a concrete belief system, and only time will tell if they continue to be Moralistic Therapeutic Deists.