My copy of Not the Religious Type came just in time for leisurely lakeside reading over the 4th of July weekend. While I've heard some of these themes in Dave Schmelzer's public presentations, this is a great compilation of ways that Dave is "on to something."

Our vacation weekend was spent with two other families who also find themselves on the outs with mainstream evangelicalism. We represented three very different denominations: Catholic, Universalist Unitarian, and the Vineyard. What's more, we all have enjoyed aspects of American churchianity, but have major obstacles to buying the whole package. I was fascinated by the fact that we found common ground with some of the core ideas recorded by Schmelzer, the Jesus-following secularist.

Call it Stage 4. Call it centered set. Even with incompatible chunks of dogma, we found a conversational camaraderie that showed similar desire for religion-free truth. It seems that this is the type of conversation the book encourages.