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Where do I begin with such an arrogant, self-serving premise? "When people turn from God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything." Oh please, spare me the sermon and hand-wringing moralizing! I heard Douthat in an hour-long interview. When asked if non-religious people can have morals, he exclaimed "Of course!" But then came the haughty qualifier: "BUT WHAT KIND OF MORALS"? Douthat claims that the morality of institutional religion is superior to the ever-changing and expedient morality of individuals. Individuals "pick and choose" what they want - a slippery slope to moral corruption and societal degradation - whereas institutional religion abides by the moral values that God meant us to have so that we can truly thrive. Douthat, a Catholic, believes that the Catholic and Protestant institutions are best, primarily because of their focus on Jesus. He also thinks that the heyday of Christian institutional religion was the 1940's and 1950's. Ah yes, the good old days. :-) Again, where do I begin? Douthat's premise is utter nonsense. He talks about how non-believers pick and choose their morals, but apparently he is totally clueless about how institutional Christian religions have done more "picking and choosing" over the centuries than non-believers ever did. Apparently he has forgotten the institutional divide between Catholics and Protestants. He doesn't even seem to understand the fundamental fact that the vast majority of Christians don't follow the teachings of Jesus! In arguing against Douthat, I'm not trying to say that institutional religion is necessarily or always a bad thing. But I am offended by the notion that we can't have a civilized, moral society without institutional religion. In my opinion, institutional religion in government is dangerous, because religion relies too much on faith, too often at the expense of reason. Also too often, institutional religion endorses exclusion at the expense of inclusion, tending to separate people rather than bring them together. Douthat, like many Christians, sees the problems we are facing in today's society and imagines that what is needed is a return to 1950's era institutional Christianity. That's what Douthat would have us do. What would Jesus do? :-)