Braxton, Donald M. “'Religion Is Not About God'--Responding to Loyal Rue: Religious Naturalism and the Future of Christianity.”  Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science 42, no. 2 (June 2007): 317-41.

Abstract

Loyal Rue suggests that religion is not about God as such but about the cultivation of personal and social well-being. Religion may employ cultural resources that included concepts of supernatural agencies, but religion's essential functionalities are not dependent on that particular resource. I largely endorse Rue's view of religion and employ Rue as a guide to thinking through its consequences for the future of Christianity. For Rue, two challenges face Christianity: the erosion of confidence in personal-god concepts and the ecological crisis engulfing the planet. In the face of these twin momentous changes, I suggest ways in which certain cultural tropes in the Christian matrix will rise to the fore and others will erode.