One does not need to follow a religion for decades or earn a doctorate to evaluate claims made by one of its adherents.

That's EXACTLY what you need to do actually.

The basis of the Christian worldview as described by the Bible is as follows.

Due to the sinful nature of man following our eviction from the garden, corporeal existence in the world, separated from god is suffering. To live as a human is to experience pain, disease, heartbreak and the painful apartness from God. Salvation through faith in Jesus does not change the state of things here on earth, it guarantees eternal bliss AFTER you die. Peterson doesn't even go this extreme because if you press him on whether or not he really believes in an afterlife he shrugs his shoulders REALLY hard and says you can't prove a negative, among other things.

I am not being casual when I say to study religion. Peterson's viewpoint is a nuanced and educated one. If there is anyone who has a series of serious axes to grind against religion, Christianity and pop-theology especially, it's me, and I STILL see the value in what Peterson is trying to say.