William Lobdell's new book Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America-and Found Unexpected Peace is nothing original. A former "serious Christian" loses his faith because he finds a "disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders." Ugh.

But what is most troubling about Lobdell's work is the ignorance and dishonesty in his presentation. For example, Lobdell's book maliciously misrepresents Catholic teaching. He flat-out lies about what the Catholic Church teaches. (I address this issue in full in the "extended version" of my review.)

In addition ... Although Lobdell claims he didn't abandon Christianity solely because of the immoral acts of believers, he spends a lot of the book on various episodes in which this very thing happened. The Catholic abuse scandals play a prominent role, of course. Some thoughts on this:

Although he would claim otherwise, Lobdell seems oblivious to the fact that "Christian" doesn't mean "perfect," and it doesn't mean "unable to sin."

When Jesus walked in the flesh here on Earth, he could not have been more clear on a very important thing: His Church would be placed into the hands of sinners. For cryin' out loud, Jesus left his Church to a guy named Peter, even though he knew full well that Peter would deny him three times before his crucifixion! Peter was the first Pope, even with that awful act on his resumé.

And does the story of Judas ring a bell to Lobdell? (Note to Lobdell: Judas was one of the 12 apostles.)

Jesus came to Earth for sinners, not the righteous (Matthew 9:12-13; Mark 2:16-17; Luke 5:30-32). Does this truth justify or forgive the sins of Christians? Absolutely not, especially when it comes to the awful abuse of children. But it communicates to us something very important. When Christians sin - and they do, often, and very badly - we shouldn't be shocked or surprised. Jesus gave us a clear "heads-up" that sinners would permeate the Church. What the Church has had in recent years is a crisis of saints.

Lobdell also articulates a laughable observation that he sees "few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists." He claims, "It's hard to believe in God when it's impossible to tell the difference between His people and atheists."

Is Lobdell kidding? The Catholic Church, despite the faults of some of its members, remains the largest single charitable organization in the world - by far. (CNEWA, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities, Catholic World Mission, CMMB, C-Fam, ICMC, Cross International Catholic Outreach, and the Bishop Gassis Fund are just some of the organizations I came up with at the top of my head just sitting here at the computer.)

When Lobdell hears the name "Cardinal Mahony," the first words that probably come to his mind are "abuse scandal." But to the thousands of poor that reside in Los Angeles County, Cardinal Mahony means food, clothing, and shelter.

In addition, countless studies show that religious people are far more charitable, happier, and optimistic than non-religious people. Lobdell is simply blind on this one. Only a warped conscience is unable to see the differences in morals between the Christian Mother Teresa and atheists like Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Can Lobdell - or anyone for that matter - name a single major charity organization driven by the tenets of atheism?

The longer I think about Lobdell's book, the more I reflect on some words by a Fr. Roger Landry, written at the peak of the Church scandal in 2002:

Jesus is with us, as he promised, until the end of time. He is still in the boat. Just as out of Judas’s betrayal he achieved the greatest victory in the universe—our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection—so out of this new [abuse] scandal he may bring, wants to bring, a new rebirth of holiness, a new Acts of the Apostles for the twenty-first century, with each of us—and that includes you—playing a starring role. Now is the time for real men and women of the Church to stand up. Now is the time for saints. How will you respond?

So ... How did Lobdell himself respond? Before the scandals broke, Lobdell faced difficult relationships along with family and professional challenges. He prayed and begged God for change. Well, God blessed him with a happy family and a new job assignment. (Even a prayer for $50,000 came true, the book tells.)

Yet when the scandals broke, and the time came for "real men and women" to stand up, what did Lobdell do? Lobdell bailed. He bailed on Jesus, and he bailed on His Church. How sad.

The great Fr. John Corapi has said, "Christianity is not a wimp religion." Half of me sees Lobdell's story as that of a wimp loser.

Yet the other half - the more rational side - simply realizes that Lobdell never understood his faith to begin with. He is woefully ignorant of the basic tenets of the Christian faith and what it really means to be a Christian.

Lobdell's tale may very well illustrate the terrible cost of poor catechesis and the sorry state of RCIA today. (RCIA is a process by which adults gradually become full members of the Catholic Church; Lobdell had been in such a program.) There can be serious consequences when men and women are poorly instructed in the Catholic faith. Today's RCIA appears to place way too much emphasis on "spiritual formation" when it should be exerting much more effort on doctrine and apologetics.

What are the arguments for God's existence? How can we be sure the New Testament documents are reliable? Why can't a Catholic support abortion? Why is birth control immoral? Why can't women be priests? Why are homosexual acts sinful? How does God reveal Himself to us in our everyday lives? What is transubstantiation? Every RCIA program should address questions such as these. These are the questions that atheists and our secularist culture so often raise, and RCIA programs need to address these common questions. (By the way, if you call yourself a Catholic, and you cannot readily answer all of the above questions, seek the truth and get some help.)

I hope that Lobdell's RCIA instructor (an Orange County priest, the book tells) reads this book and realizes that he needs to seriously reinvent his program. The Church cannot have individuals going through RCIA and thinking it's permissible to be a "cafeteria Catholic." A "cafeteria Catholic" is not a Catholic.

(A last tip: Save the unworthy $25.99 and just read Lobdell's lengthy 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times. The book is simply an "extended version" of the article.)

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There is a lot more that can be said about Lobdell's book. I am posting an "extended version" of my book review of William Lobdell's "Losing Faith."