Here is a good example of the phenomenon of secular Christianity which follows the modern tendancy to locate evil in the outer world and reduces religion to a social movement. From the Boston Globe:

Barack Obama called "active faith" an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change in a speech yesterday at the national meeting of a black church group.

Stopping for about two hours in St. Louis, the Democratic presidential nominee implored thousands of members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation's largest and most politically active black denominations, to help fix national and local ills.

He preached individual responsibility, saying he knew he risked criticism for "blaming the victim" by talking about the need for parents to help children with homework and turn off the television to pass on a healthy self-image to daughters, and teach boys both to respect women and "realize that responsibility does not end at conception."

But Obama's main message was the government's duty to address what he said are "moral problems" - such as war, poverty, joblessness, homelessness, violent streets, and crumbling schools - and to employ religious institutions to do it.

"As long as we're not doing everything in our individual and collective power to solve the challenges we face, the conscience of our nation cannot rest," he said...