IN THEORY, La Canada Valley Sun, June 10, 2010

Topic:

The “I’m spiritual but not religious” community is growing, according to a blog post by CNN writer John Blake. It is growing so much, the blogger writes, one pastor has compared it to a “movement.” In a 2009 survey by the research firm LifeWay Christian Resources, 72% of people 18 to 29 consider themselves “more spiritual than religious.” Some say the phrase hints at egotism: “If it's just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands on you, why help the poor?” asks one Jesuit priest. Others “dispute the notion that spiritual people shun being accountable to a community.” What do you think? What exactly does being “spiritual but not religious” mean, and could there be hidden dangers in living such a life?

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Our response:

While many see a difference between being religious and being spiritual, the distinction is a variable one, perhaps partly because the word spiritual, as used today, is subject to such a broad range of meanings.

It’s encouraging that people who regard themselves as spiritual but not necessarily religious are realizing that there is a higher approach than the merely materialistic; and yet there is the question of whether much of this thinking, however comforting, is as effective as it could be.

Practical spirituality abounds throughout the Bible, and the original Christianity put forward by Christ Jesus introduced a spirituality as radical as anything we know today, confronting both the thinkers and the organized religion of his time. He challenged us to work from a spiritual viewpoint in everything we undertake. He said plainly, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4). In such statements we learn about our own spiritual relationship to God, whose love is available to guide and direct us all.

In her Miscellaneous Writings, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “The spiritualization of our sense of man [meaning mankind, both men and women] opens the gates of paradise that the so-called material sense would close, and reveals man infinitely blessed, upright, pure, and free.” Seeing the essential spiritual component of each of us, with an unbreakable tie to God, is the basis of a spirituality that helps and heals in all situations.

For those with a common understanding and interest, an organizational structure of some form can provide both supportive resources for oneself and a vehicle for reaching out to other seekers. One example of this within my own church is the web site http://spirituality.com, designed to heal, inspire, and guide one’s individual spiritual journey, a resource that could not exist without a community of like-minded individuals, but serves spiritual seekers whether or not they desire religious affiliation.

Hopefully many of today’s sincere thinkers will find their way to a spiritual understanding that unites us all to the good that is God.