Is Religion important to Spirituality and vice-versa?
I have heard people say, “I am spiritual but not religious”. In fact, I have used this expression myself. I hear it particularly used by those who do not have a religious or church background or indeed by those who reject their church background. But what does it actually mean? Religion and spirituality are different but complementary. I would suggest that it is not a competition between religion and spirituality, but more an opportunity to consider how joining the two can enrich our faith and our lives.
What is Religion?
Religion is a way of relating to the sacred, the divine, human values and what is significant and worthwhile in a meaningful life. Religion is also an organized system of beliefs, practices, and rituals that are often associated with a particular faith. Many have seen religion as imposed at birth or through one’s culture, rather than a personal choice.
Why do some people abandon Religion?
I suggest that the reasons many have abandoned religion is because of particular religious beliefs imposed through hierarchical structures (organized religion). The church’s belief in God, interpreted in our culture through the Bible seems either irrelevant, dangerous or nonsensical and therefore irrational to the modern mind.
Additionally, there have been gargantuan shifts from a society where divine guidance or officials who are regarded as divinely guided hold significant power and influence over political and social matters ( theocratic society), to a society where religion is separate from government and public life is based on reason and scientific principles (secular society) since the period of intellectual and cultural growth in the 17th & 18th centuries that emphasized reason, science and individual rights ( the Enlightenment )
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality, too, is a way of relating to the sacred, the divine, human values and what is significant and worthwhile in a meaningful life. Many see spirituality as a more personal and individual experience of the sacred or divine. It is more connected to the earth and the human spirit.
Why has there been an increase in Spirituality?
Is it fair to say that the rise in spirituality is a response to the human need in most of us to continue the pathway toward a rich and meaningful life in a spirit of being which is sacred to both earth and sky! While society continues to change around us, our human need to understand and connect persists.
Is there a difference between Religion and Spirituality?
I have seen in myself and others the desire to continue a religious life while integrating spirituality into life and faith in order to discover a deeper and more meaningful understanding of self and others.So, my reflections have led me to some tentative conclusions. First religion and spirituality are different yet complementary ways of relating to the sacred, the divine, human values and what is significant and worthwhile in a meaningful life. Religion can be seen as structured, while spirituality is fluid and individual and they exist together and separately
I don’t think I can do better than quote Austin Cline, an expert on religion, spirituality and atheism, from his article in Learning Religions:
– Religion is spiritual and spirituality is religious. One tends to be more personal and private while the other tends to incorporate public rituals and organized doctrines. The lines between one and the other are not clear and distinct—they are all points on the spectrum of belief systems known as religion. Neither religion nor spirituality is better or worse than the other; people who try to pretend that such a difference does exist are only fooling themselves.
The Future and Continuation of Religion
Many commentators have been either frustrated or surprised at the continued presence of religion in contemporary society. As we know some forms of modern religion have morphed into new and at times peculiar expressions. Fundamentalism, emotionalism and cults of all kinds and colours. Nevertheless, the desire for a community, and occasions that transcend the profane and the ordinary in worship, reflection and public ritual remain at the core of our humanness. Privatized rituals are not big enough to be the repository of our deepest spiritual needs.
Perhaps spirituality, because it is unbounded, can drift toward the idiosyncratic and meaningless, while the religious can be too binding and unwilling to be experimental, life-affirming and adaptive. As Austin Cline is suggesting, we need both. However, religion cannot claim the upper hand through authoritarianism or historic precedence. Nor can spirituality express superiority through novelty and personal autonomy. Both must not only live together, but must inform each other with the best they have to offer.
On the back cover of Roger Haight’s book “Spiritual and Religious: Exploration for Seekers” Kaya Oakes writes:
– Roger Haight reminds us that religion without spirituality – without the life-giving, evolving, moving of spirit – is not religion at all. In a time when religion and the spiritual are being tugged apart, both by religion and secularism, he carefully and gracefully joins them back together, where they belong!
So, is Religion important to Spirituality and vice-versa? The desire to continue a religious life while integrating spirituality into life and faith persists in our 21st-century society. The intertwining of religion and spirituality, living together, offers a deeper and more meaningful understanding of self and others.