Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul

In 1955, only 4%  of Americans had switched religious affiliations in their lifetimes.  By 2008, it was 44% and rising.  This sea change in religious mobility has fueled a market-driven church, where "customers" increasingly demand what's entertaining and therapeutic, but seldom get challenged to elevate personal priorities.  As a result, traits long associated with the best of Christianity - from self-control to selfless love and compassion - are disappearing from churches across the theological spectrum and from our relatively religious society.

G. Jeffrey MacDonald, a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and Religion News Service, has witnessed the tragic consequences of this shift from his unique vantage as a national religion reporter and as a pastor of a small New England congregation.  Drawing on statistics, dozens of interviews and personal experience in ministry, he argues that the church is evolving from a character-shaping institution into a pandering, customer-driven business.  His lecture will examine this crisis, what it means for America and how religious consumerism might offer solutions.  

Bio: G. Jeffrey MacDonald is an award-winning journalist, author and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.  His reporting has appeared in five books as well as TIME magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today and the Washington Post, among other national publications.  For in-depth coverage of religion, he's received six awards from the Religion Newswriters Association and the American Academy of Religion.  A cum laude graduate of Yale Divinity School, he works as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and Religion News Service.  His new book, Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul, goes on sale from Basic Books on March 30, 2010.  Jeffrey lives in Newburyport, MA.