According to Ostwalt, what happens when individuals, not institutions, define religious expression? How have you seen this in your personal experiences?

As religious institutions adopt an individualistic secular orientation, they become increasingly defined by the values of secular society, rather than by their own values. This not only results in a dilution of the message, but it also displaces religion's traditional role as a critic of secular values. Religious institutions have incorporated secular values such as commercialism into the messages that they preach. As the secular media seeks authority for its beliefs in religious tropes, once again values such as commercialism are given the veneer of divine authority. This can be seen in the explosion of self-help books that promise gains in wealth by improving one's mindset and even in weight-loss books that promise the ability to teach people how to 'think themselves thin' -- changing and purifying the body...
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