Therapeutic Values & Moral Norms

Its center is the autonomous individual, presumed able to choose the roles he will play and the commitments he will make, not on the basis of higher truths but according to the criterion of life-effectiveness as the individual judges it (Bellah, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton 47).

The term "therapeutic" applied to life indicates that there is a focus on a need for cure. Bellah and his associates offer an answer to this question:

In the final analysis, it is cure of the lack of fit between the present organization of the self and the available organization of work, intimacy, and meaning. And this cure is to take the form of enhancing and empowering the self to be able to relate successfully to others in society, achieving a kind of satisfaction without being overwhelmed by their demands (Bellah, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton 47).

Therapeutic values are those values contributing to this process of cure. Such values are addressed as significant constructs or moral norms in the mod

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ffers an integrated community setting where therapeutic values can be strong: "Its value is as a loving community in which individuals can experience the joy of belonging" (Bellah, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton 230). The authors describe a liberal and a conservative church and find similar therapeutic values in each, noting that both stress stable, loving relationships, in which the intention to care outweighs the flux of momentary feelings, as the ideal pattern in marriage family, and work relationships. Thus both attempt to counter the more exploitative tendencies of utilitarian individualism (Bellah, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton 231-232). However, the authors also find that the therapeutic values of both face difficulty in addressing other countervailing forces in society today: But in both cases, their sense of religious community has trouble moving beyond an individualistic morality. . . There are thousands of local churches in the United Stats, representing an enormous range of variation in doctrine and worship. Yet most define themselves as communities of personal support (Bellah, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton 232). Churchgoers indicate that they want more personal intimacy in their religious life, and this sugges
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Approximate Word count = 1510
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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