Then, in the West, a noonday crisis occurred as Christianity clashed with modernity, with secularization and a popular belief in “the death of God” characteristic of this ongoing phase.
http://halik.cz/cs/tvorba/clanky-eseje/clanek/220/
Does a native speaker find the above sentence OK? I have the problems with the passage in bold. I would use (a) … belief in “the death of God”, so characteristic of this ongoing phase; (b) … belief in “the death of God”, which is characteristic of this ongoing phase. I found the sentence unclear. Or am I wrong and everything is all right?