Dan Brown’s theology according to Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat criticizes Dan Brown’s writing as theologically dangerous:

In the Brownian worldview, all religions — even Roman Catholicism — have the potential to be wonderful, so long as we can get over the idea that any one of them might be particularly true. It’s a message perfectly tailored for 21st-century America, where the most important religious trend is neither swelling unbelief nor rising fundamentalism, but the emergence of a generalized “religiousness” detached from the claims of any specific faith tradition.

But Dan Brown peddles in modernity, not in theology.  Religions, to Brown, are not wonderful because they’re spiritual.  I doubt he’d like Echart Tolle and Deepak Chopra any more than John Paul II.  Instead, Brown think religions are wonderful because they can unite people for other purposes.  The idea is not to unite the world behind a spirituality that can enhance their lives, but rather to unite the world behind any banner that can create political change towards a international governance.  Dan Brown is, ultimately, hoping to mix church and state to this end.