According to a Pew Research Report, 20 percent of Americans describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated.
The percentage is much higher for young people, up to 72 percent of them are not religious.
The Buddhist magazine “Lion’s Roar” points out that about one-third of this group identify as atheist, and the rest, approximately 30 million people, maintain a spiritual belief and practice even though they don’t attend church, mosque or synagogue.
The article claims that “these are the famous ‘spiritual but not religious,’ philosophically the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. Generally, they’re educated, liberal and open-minded, with a deep sense of connection to the Earth and a belief that there’s more to life than what appears on the surface.”
The term “spiritual but not religious” is something that many see as a growing concern and others see as an opportunity or an awakening. Regardless of one’s perspective, however, it is important that we define our terms.
What does it mean to be religious? What is spirituality?
The dictionary is always a good starting point for definitions and mine tells us that religion is the belief and worship of a God or other superhuman controlling power. An alternate definition is a particular system of belief and practices, which has supreme importance.
That same dictionary defines spirituality as anything relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul or that which is not material or physical. It also says spirituality relates to religion or religious beliefs.
Clearly, the two are related, and for some they are the same.
Others, however, clearly differentiate between the two and the most significant difference seems centered on God. Religions generally have clear definitions of their understanding of God and naturally expect members to adopt that definition. It would seem that those people who call themselves spiritual but not religious do not accept this definition and may even reject the idea of God completely.
What it all boils down to for me is that spirituality is the striving toward greater community, greater commitment, greater communication; a striving toward a communion with all of creation.
Spirituality may include an understanding of God or it may not. The African feminist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye defines spirituality as simply, “the energy by which one lives and which links one’s worldview to one’s style of life.”
I very much like this definition because it is both open-ended, letting us define the nature of the energy that guides us, while clearly stating that it is linked to how we live in this world. What is important according to this definition, whether we define ourselves as spiritual or religious, is that our beliefs guide our actions and choices.
The question I pose to the reader is this, did the great spiritual teachers of the past invoke us to be members of a religious institution or did they teach us to live out their teachings of love and compassion in the world? Do our choices and actions determine our character, or our memberships?
http://staugustine.com/living/religion/2016-09-09/spiritual-not-religious#.V9cjx5grLb0
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