Author's Brand Of Christianity Strikes a Chord With Young Adults

"I felt, once again, that there was this underlying hostility for homosexuals and Democrats and, well, hippie types. I cannot tell you how much I did not want liberal or gay people to be my enemies. I liked them," he wrote. "The real issue in the Christian community was that [love] was conditional. . . . You were loved in word, but there was, without question, a social commodity that was being withheld from you until you shaped up."

Dave Morton was also growing cold on the church when he picked up Miller's book.

"The perspective that was refreshing to me was that your Christian faith doesn't have to look exactly like everybody else's," said Morton, a 28-year-old ski instructor from Bend, Ore. "It kind of inspired me to pursue God again with a fresh perspective."

Brad Jones, a 30-year-old youth pastor at a conservative Southern Baptist church in South Florida, said he felt alone in his desire for more authentic dialogue about God.

"My thoughts on faith aren't really going along with everyone else, and then I read this and said, 'That's what I've been thinking the whole time,' " he said.

Miller's book embraces cultural relevance, not cultural dominance, he said.

"The typical judgmental, hate-filled, bigoted, more people knew what we were against than what we were for" mentality has little to do with the real God, Jones said.

Experts say Miller and authors like him are in sync with a generation of young adults who believe in God, Jesus and the basics of Christianity but are struggling to balance their conservative Christian upbringings with a culture that embraces a go-along-to get-along philosophy.

"People like Donald Miller are speaking almost like a prophet of a new age and describing the landscape in a way people who feel comfortable in that landscape really couldn't articulate before," said David Kinnaman, a researcher for the Barna Group and author of "unChristian."

Critics call Miller's works casual and glib and say that he strays from biblical truths when he downplays homosexuality and other sins.

One such critic, Shane Walker, says Miller presents Jesus as a "nice fellow who meets one at the campfire and swaps stories." He forgets to remind readers that Jesus is also a judge and avenger who "wants to save you from his just wrath," according to his review for 9Marks, an organization designed to help churches reestablish their biblical bearings.

Miller says "toeing the party line for the church is not my job; telling the truth is my job. I don't fear saying that certain Republican policies are painful for God to endure."

Miller has sold more than 1 million books, including "Searching for God Knows What," and republished his first book, renamed "Through Painted Deserts," which sold dismally before his "Blue Like Jazz" fame. He also travels much of the year for speaking engagements.

"When I wrote this book I felt like I was stuffing a message in a bottle," Miller said.

Like the old Police song, Miller's beach is now flooded with responses.

"There's this connection of 'Hey, we're not alone in this boat.' "