> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://mereorthodoxy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Ross Douthat, Heretics, and Mere Orthodoxy
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/ross-douthat-heretics-mere-orthodoxy/
- Published: 2012-10-12T11:20:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-18T17:11:21.000Z
- Description: Ross Douthat's case for Christianity in Bad Religion is buried in the background, rather than right up front where it belongs.
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Matthew Lee Anderson, Evangelicalism

[](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7b/0b/7b0bd699-d78f-4472-8d29-233bd333f048/content/images/2026/04/ghost-upload-1776717988442-467538-Douthat%5Fbook.jpeg?ref=mereorthodoxy.com)In the opening of [*Orthodoxy*](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1469946939/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1469946939&linkCode=as2&tag=mereorth-20&ref=mereorthodoxy.com)*,* Chesterton humorously suggests that it is an answer to a challenge.

He had written [*Heretics*](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613822707/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1613822707&linkCode=as2&tag=mereorth-20&ref=mereorthodoxy.com), where he had taken on his contemporaries and the falsity of their views. But Mr. G.S. Street, who was one of his targets, wasn't quite convinced: "I will begin to worry about my philosophy," he suggested, "when Mr. Chesterton has given us his."

I'm no heretic, at least not that I know of. So the fit isn't a perfect one. But in the [latest issue of The City](http://www.civitate.org/2012/10/the-city-fall-2012/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com), I drop a similar sort of challenge to Ross Douthat in light of his excellent book [*Bad Religion*](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439178305/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439178305&linkCode=as2&tag=mereorth-20&ref=mereorthodoxy.com)*.* The case he makes is a compelling one, but he leaves the alternative to our contemporary heretical currents more in the background (though not exclusively).

There is no reason to doubt his commitments (there never was with Chesterton's in *Heretics,* either), but the books focus is obviously critical: it is titled *Bad* Religion, after all.

The fun part about all this is that it was part of a [symposium and Ross Douthat responded](http://www.civitate.org/2012/10/the-city-fall-2012/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com). How? Well, for that you're just going to have to read it. And you should.