“America’s problem isn’t too much religion, or too little of it. It’s bad religion.” So opines New York Times columnist Ross Douthat in his new book Bad Religion, which in my humble opinion is the best read of 2012 thus far.Douthat advances a compelling thesis that challenges both “liberal” and “conservative” views of cultural malaise. He asserts that America has been overrun with heretical versions of Christianity, and that these subtly influential heresies – not traditional, orthodox Christianity –have weakened our cultural heritage.

In 1985, Thomas Howard left behind the evangelical upbringing of his youth and converted to Roman Catholicism. His defection likely means that some evangelicals will not read this book. And that will be a tragedy....Despite his own bias, Howard is a charitable and gracious interlocutor. He’s like a friend who loves you enough to tell you that there’s something stuck in your teeth or that your zipper is down. With a kind and earnest tone, he judges evangelical Christianity to be correct but incomplete. And it is incomplete, in many of the ways Howard suggests.

In his book Sexual Detox: A Guide for Guys Who are Sick of Porn, author Tim Challies talks unashamedly about how sex is worshipped as god. He confronts this topic from experience as well as deliverance. He’s a married man with a realistic approach at conquering porn. He doesn’t offer steps or even accountability groups. He offers Christ and the Gospel, the Bible and its authority to bring renewal. He pleads with men to get serious about killing their sin.

Jeffrey Satinover is a medical doctor with top-shelf intellectual credentials. He graduated from MIT, attained master's degrees from Harvard and Yale, and received his M.D. from the University of Texas. He has practiced psychoanalysis and psychiatry for 25 years... and he writes like a good doctor who speaks hard truth because he cares for his patient’s good.

Gay activists deliberately paint a picture of homosexual life, especially among men, that is the counterpart of heterosexual life. Their purpose is to avoid alienating support from sympathetic heterosexuals who constitute the vast majority of people… [But] the sexual profile of the typical gay male is precisely the most [medically] dangerous one…