In his book Bad Religion, Ross Douthat examines the core beliefs of America's wave of "spiritual but not religious" teachers such as Deepak Chopra, James Redfield, Eckhart Tolle, Paulo Coelho, Neale Donald Walsch, Oprah Winfrey, and Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat, Pray, Love). Douthat claims that their "creed" shares the following four beliefs:

1) All organized religions offer only partial glimpses of God (or Light or Being). Thus, we must seek to experience God through feeling rather than reason, experience rather than dogma, a direct encounter rather than a hand-me-down revelation. As Neal Donald Walsch writes in his book Conversations with God, "Listen to your feelings. Listen to your Highest Thought …. Whenever any of these differ from what you've been told by your teachers, or read in your books, forget the words."

2) God is everywhere and within everything—especially within you. You can encounter God by getting in touch with the divinity that resides inside your very self and soul. At the climax of his book The Alchemist Paul Coelho writes: "The boy reached through the Soul of the World, and saw that it was a part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul."

3) Sin and evil are largely illusions that will ultimately be reconciled rather than defeated. There is no hell save the one we make for ourselves on Earth, no final separation from the Being that all our beings rest within. Elizabeth Gilbert assures her readers, "There is no such thing in this universe as hell, except maybe in our own terrified minds."

4) Perfect happiness is available right now. Heaven is on earth. Eternity can be entered at any moment, by any person who understands how to let go, let God, and let themselves be washed away in love. James Redfield writes, "At some point everyone will vibrate highly enough so that we can walk into heaven, in our same form." And Coelho adds, "I do believe in life after death, but I also don't think that it's that important. What's important is to understand that we are also living this life after death now."