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"""Stivers and van der Laan have delivered a lean but muscular critical masterpiece. . . . Their analysis of today's impassioned, partisan politics and its colonization of the Christian churches--and their deep understanding of our technological milieu and its uncritical embrace by pastors and churches--should be required reading by all pastors and seminary students. . . . Stivers and van der Laan speak truth to our reality, and the issues they raise must get on the agenda of any leader who cares about the church and the world."" --David W. Gill, President, International Jacques Ellul Society ""Stivers and van der Laan show how deeply political our religions are and how deeply religious our politics are. However, we cannot confuse the United States' religious fervor for Christianity in practice. Despite this unholy alliance of religion and politics in pursuit of power that leads to violence, our life in a technological system is not hopeless. . . . This important book helps make sense both of our current moment and the future we are collectively walking towards."" --Paul Stock, Associate Professor of Sociology and the Environmental Studies Program, University of Kansas ""In this lucid study, Stivers and van der Laan argue persuasively that religion in America is in a precarious state, not so much for lack of numbers or zeal, but for substituting religion for politics, technology (and its product, consumption), or secular, personalist approaches to spirituality. Above all, religion has distanced itself from Scripture."" --John Paul Russo, Chair, Department of Classics, University of Miami ""As the modern world surrenders itself to technological domination, modern religion predictably follows suit. Stivers and van der Laan astutely dissect the blatant idolatry embedded within today's technological religious options. Whether you choose technology's offerings of political or personal religion, or a combination of both, the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ remains irreconcilable to personal preference. Religion in America Today offers a much-needed prophetic warning against the religious darkness that accompanies technological 'illumination.'"" --David M. Crump, New Testament professor, retired, Calvin University"

Stivers and van der Laan have delivered a lean but muscular critical masterpiece. . . . Their analysis of today's impassioned, partisan politics and its colonization of the Christian churches--and their deep understanding of our technological milieu and its uncritical embrace by pastors and churches--should be required reading by all pastors and seminary students. . . . Stivers and van der Laan speak truth to our reality, and the issues they raise must get on the agenda of any leader who cares about the church and the world. --David W. Gill, President, International Jacques Ellul Society Stivers and van der Laan show how deeply political our religions are and how deeply religious our politics are. However, we cannot confuse the United States' religious fervor for Christianity in practice. Despite this unholy alliance of religion and politics in pursuit of power that leads to violence, our life in a technological system is not hopeless. . . . This important book helps make sense both of our current moment and the future we are collectively walking towards. --Paul Stock, Associate Professor of Sociology and the Environmental Studies Program, University of Kansas In this lucid study, Stivers and van der Laan argue persuasively that religion in America is in a precarious state, not so much for lack of numbers or zeal, but for substituting religion for politics, technology (and its product, consumption), or secular, personalist approaches to spirituality. Above all, religion has distanced itself from Scripture. --John Paul Russo, Chair, Department of Classics, University of Miami As the modern world surrenders itself to technological domination, modern religion predictably follows suit. Stivers and van der Laan astutely dissect the blatant idolatry embedded within today's technological religious options. Whether you choose technology's offerings of political or personal religion, or a combination of both, the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ remains irreconcilable to personal preference. Religion in America Today offers a much-needed prophetic warning against the religious darkness that accompanies technological 'illumination.' --David M. Crump, New Testament professor, retired, Calvin University

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Richard Stivers is Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus at Illinois State University. He is the author of Hair of the Dog: Irish Drinking and Its American Stereotype; Evil in Modern Myth and Ritual; The Culture of Cynicism: American Morality in Decline; Technology As Magic; The Illusion of Freedom and Equality; and The Media Creates Us in Its Image and Other Essays on Technology and Culture. He gave three lectures based on three of his books to the European Commission in 2006. J. M. van der Laan is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Illinois State University. His expertise extends from German literature, in particular Faust, to the role of technology in contemporary life. His various publications address a wide range of topics such as printing in the first hundred years after Gutenberg, eighteenth-century essays, nineteenth-century science fiction, and technology in culture, literature, and society.

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