A review of “Happy Lies” by Melissa Dougherty

What do Oprah, Norman Vincent Peale, and Ralph Waldo Emerson have in common? According to Melissa Dougherty’s new book, Happy Lies, they have all, knowingly or unknowingly, drunk the “New Thought” kool-aid and generously shared it. 

Is New Thought a new term for you? It’s had an enormous impact on Western culture, especially in recent times, and that’s true for people inside and outside of the church.   

Dougherty documents that many in the church have imbibed the “kool-aid” too, though most have little knowledge of doing so. Often, they believe they’re “going deeper” into Christianity. They mix a shallow, sometimes superficial, Christianity with things like positive affirmations, the latest social/sexual mores, numerology, tarot, astrology, transcendental meditation, karma, the zodiac, crystal energies, and other “trendy” belief systems. New Thought is a morphing, adapting infection, much like many viruses.  

New Thought is also a way of thinking that ultimately becomes all about self: my truth, my feelings, my power, my fulfillment. It claims that truth is already in us, we just have to unleash it. As such, it inevitably leads to an “I am God/God is me” view of “my reality.”

That said, if you think that New Thought and New Age are probably the same thing, you’re—mostly—wrong. There are some overlaps, though.  

New Age vs New Thought

“New Age is rooted in more Eastern mysticism, Buddhism and Hinduism and doesn’t identify as a Christian movement.” On the other hand, Dougherty professes that New Thought is a system of thinking with which virtually everyone is familiar but just doesn’t know it. She asserts that many authors and speakers—even composers and movie producers—use New Thought in their works, but never call it by that name.

“From the self-help movement, affirmations, and fancy prosperity teachings to the promotion of relativistic social causes, positive thinking, and more, all of these have a common philosophy as their ‘ancestor.’ They all are part of a toxic infection called New Thought.” 

It is not easily identifiable. “New Thought is much trickier, stealthier, and deceptive than New Age, particularly for Christians. And most Christians have never even heard of it before.” 

Happy Lies tackles questions like:

• What is New Thought? Is it an organization or an entity?
• What are the more insidious ways that New Thought has taken root in Western Christianity? How do they use Christian terminology, but mean different things?
• Is there a direct correlation between the decline of churches and biblical Christianity to the rise of “my truth” thinking? Is there a cause/effect relationship?
• Why is New Thought a “spirituality that Satan loves?”
• Is Oprah an evangelist for “New Thought?” Why? How? Were Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller?  
• Does “New Thought” contain any truth?  
• How is “New Thought” slavery?
• Why is “New Thought” considered to be a metaphysical spin on Christianity?
• What examples of “New Thought” have infiltrated Christian settings and thought?

This book is designed to do more than scare and alarm us. Dougherty thoughtfully and fully explains a biblically grounded view of self, God, and the world as she unfolds the New Thought menace. And it’s a thought system that impacts more than just random individuals. Entire denominations and subcultures have fallen prey to it.  

Moreover, this book is not solely an academic-theological endeavor. Dougherty shares her own personal experiences with New Thought, some of which even originated from her grandmother’s bookshelves!  

Truth is like a compass

I have often used an analogy when referring to my own experiences with a religious cult in college many years ago. I have likened that experience to traveling with someone from Dallas to the North Pole. Both of us have a compass, except my traveling companion’s is one degree off. 

Initially, we’re shoulder to shoulder seemingly heading to the same destination. A few miles in my fellow traveler has separated a bit from me. No big deal, right? Well, after several miles more, I begin to lose sight of him altogether. By the time I arrive at the North Pole, my companion is nowhere in sight. He missed it by at least fifty miles.

THE truth is a straight and narrow path (cf. Matthew 7:14). Truth mixed with any measure of error will jeopardize reaching the goal.  

Over the course of my life, outside of the Bible itself, Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, and Avery Willis’ MasterLife, Melissa Dougherty’s Happy Lies has done as much to identify, clarify, and distinguish truth from current worldly thinking as anything else I have recently read. It ought to be required reading for all Christ-followers. 

And if you think that you, your church, or your denomination are immune to New Thought and its insidious methods, you simply MUST read this book. Like recent pandemics, it spreads easily and infects almost everyone it touches. Rest assured, Dougherty generously shares the antidote – God’s unadulterated word: Sola Scriptura. 

Beware! For many, this book will be the proverbial “drink from a fire hydrant.”  My first reading has made me want to read it again, though, and perhaps with others for discussion and introspection.  

In the introduction to Happy Lies, Dougherty states that her intent in writing this book is to help readers clearly identify what this stealthy spirituality called New Thought is, why it’s dangerous, and what to do about it.  

Believe me, she does all three exceedingly well.