"I'm spiritual, but not religious."

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A google search on “spiritual but not religious” comes up with a whole bunch of pages. Here’s one: gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/NEWS/309594265/1006/NEWS

So, according to a person in this article, “spiritual but not religious” means
“[feeling] better going to a park and meditating and listening to God that way than sitting in a church, hearing that I’m a sinner and I have to confess my sins in order to go to heaven.”
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Another (beliefnet.com/story/109/story_10958_1.html):
Compared with those who connected interest in private spirituality with membership in a public religious group, the “spiritual, but not religious” group was
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less likely to evaluate religiousness positively, less likely to engage in traditional forms of worship such as church attendance and prayer, less likely to engage in group experiences related to spiritual growth, more likely to be agnostic, more likely to characterize religiousness and spirituality as different and nonoverlapping concepts, more likely to hold nontraditional beliefs, and more likely to have had mystical experiences.
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Lepanto said:
I encounter this phrase quite a bit. How do you interpret it?
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This is easily translated into “I love the feel good factor and reject anything that interfers with it”

Hence the reason why innovations are so widespread.
 
monorail said:
A google search on “spiritual but not religious” comes up with a whole bunch of pages. Here’s one: gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/NEWS/309594265/1006/NEWS

So, according to a person in this article, “spiritual but not religious” means
“[feeling] better going to a park and meditating and listening to God that way than sitting in a church, hearing that I’m a sinner and I have to confess my sins in order to go to heaven.”
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And, what happens if it’s actually true that you have to confess your sins in order to go to Heaven?

I have to wonder what goes through people’s minds - do they think they can create their own reality, and that God will change His rules to suit them? 🤷
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I’m spiritual, but not religious.

Being religious is about following clerical rules and traditions.

Being spiritual is about feeling the connection with the divine.
 
jmcrae said:
And, what happens if it’s actually true that you have to confess your sins in order to go to Heaven?

I have to wonder what goes through people’s minds - do they think they can create their own reality, and that God will change His rules to suit them? 🤷
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I know lots of people who do think so. They grew up with either total permision to do what they wanted or a lot of restriction and little awareness of love, so they think permissiveness and love are the same thing. Therefore they think a loving God wouldn’t ask anything of them or refuse to let them make their own reality and live in it.:whistle: :whacky:
 
blessedtoo said:
And where do these people go to give “aid” to those in need? Do they perhaps volunteer through Christian organizations? And this group of “spiritual but not religious” people - do they have their own organizations that reach out across the globe to bring aid and comfort to those in need?
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True. I look around me at so-called “secular” aid organizations - the Mustard Seed (a soup kitchen, flop house, alcohol/drug recovery centre, and job retraining facility), founded by a recovering alcoholic and drug addict - with help from the congregation of Baptists who rescued him from the streets and gave him hope - after his baptism into their church, when he was looking for a Christian service project to get involved with, and couldn’t find anything specific to people in his former situation.

The Drop In Centre, founded by Kaz Iwaasa, a Japanese concentration camp survivor - who converted to the United Church of Canada in the days before it went completely crazy, and became a minister of the word of God in order to forgive his enemies publicly, and move on with his life - he remembered what it was like to have everything taken away and become homeless, and wanted to help others in the same situation.

Inn from the Cold (founded by a group of Anglicans) supposedly takes place in any public building - school, church, community hall - guess what - all of the locations are churches, and nearly 100% of the volunteers are regular church-goers - the one or two who are not, are dragged along by family members who are.

I could go on.
 
jmcrae said:
When is the last time you saw a “spiritual but not religious” person serving meals at a soup kitchen, sitting with the dying in an AIDS hospice, or rescuing homeless people to find them jobs and homes - or even remaining faithful to their spouse through hard times?
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do you have to do those things to live a moral life?
 
jmcrae said:
I have to wonder what goes through people’s minds - do they think they can create their own reality, and that God will change His rules to suit them? 🤷
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We think the *young religion of judeo-christianity is a man-made reality.
  • young as in only 4000 years old compared to humanity’s age of hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions.
 
do you have to do those things to live a moral life?
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Just the ones mentioned?
serving meals at a soup kitchen, sitting with the dying in an AIDS hospice, or rescuing homeless people to find them jobs and homes - or even remaining faithful to their spouse through hard times?
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Gosh, no: there are lots more things in addition to those that you can do. You can give to victims of tragedy, you can knit or crochet blankets, you can volunteer your time for those in need, etc. And above all, even when you yourself might be dying, homeless, hungry, old, poor, etc. you can pray for others. Why, the list of what you can ‘do’ or ‘give’ is practically endless.

Maybe if you gave us examples of what you think ‘living a moral life’ would be for you particularly?
 
Lepanto said:
I encounter this phrase quite a bit. How do you interpret it?
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Depends on the person. Sometimes I laugh out loud. Once, I looked the person in the eye (ex Catholic of course) and said very softly: That’s bull**** and you know it.

“Spiritual but not religious” translates: Don’t bother me with your morality. I just want the good stuff.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Maybe if you gave us examples of what you think ‘living a moral life’ would be for you particularly?
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starting from yourself:
  • being a law-abiding citizen.
  • being honest & sincere even if no one is watching you.
  • being a faithful & caring spouse.
  • being respectful of people you disagree with.
  • being a caring & responsible father.
  • speaking out if a wrong was done.
extending outwards
  • giving a substantial amount to the poor. not just your spare change.
  • being always on the ready to help those in need. small things that add up. like opening the door for the aged. picking up stuff for a lady. stoping over to help someone who had an accident.
  • going out of your way to be in touch with a depressed friend or loved one.
etc. etc. etc.
 
Lepanto said:
I encounter this phrase quite a bit. How do you interpret it?
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It means that they want all of the warm fluffies of believing in a God, higher power, or spirituality, with none of the moral standards that holds us too. Its basicly wimpy spirituality.
 
East_and_West said:
It means that they want all of the warm fluffies of believing in a God, higher power, or spirituality, with none of the moral standards that holds us too. Its basicly wimpy spirituality.
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moral standards like

“dont use condoms”,
“god hates fags”,
“men are the maintainers of women”,
etc.

i’ll have none of those. 😃
 
notself said:
Perhaps when people say they are spiritual they mean that they are interested the ultimate nature of humankind but do not believe there is one path to follow.

Perhaps when people say they are not religious they mean that they do not see the need for rites, rituals or authority in order to lead a moral life.

This appears to upset those who feel that rites, ritual, and authority are absolutely necessary in following a spiritual path.
I don’t understand why the spiritual/non religious should upset those that are religious. I would think the religious would be too busy “dusting” their own souls to throw mud at the practices of others.

I can understand that the religious wish to share their beliefs and spread their faith, but why be upset or sarcastic if others are not interested? Can someone please explain?
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Doesn’t look like you had any “takers”…I’d be interested as well.

IMO it’s the kind of answers we’ve read here that “put people off” on 'organized religion"…rude, sarcastic, often spiteful…not much that would entice anyone to look into “organized religion” for the most part.

In the Meeting I attend we get our share of “Seekers” who often use the same phrase of “being spiritual” but “not religious”…“not religious” usually carries a connotation very close to the responses we’ve made in this thread…not much in the way of displaying the “Spirit of Christ” or “love of God” toward others.

The writer of one of the letters of John said something about “How can we say we love God whom we have not seen, yet hate our brother whom we have seen?” IMO, this is the difference those who use that phrase “spiritual vs religious” is really trying to make…perhaps we should listen to them a bit more closely…we may learn more about ourselves than we want to…the “spiritual” vs the “religious” phrase is often a mirror not too many of really want to look into…IMO.
 
jmcrae said:
Those, and many, many more. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount will give you a few more ideas.
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“thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods”.

not even catholics are following that! coveting they neighbors goods is what drives the economy! 😃
 
AgnosTheist said:
starting from yourself:
  • being a law-abiding citizen.
Why?
  • being honest & sincere even if no one is watching you.
Why?
  • being a faithful & caring spouse.
Why?
  • being respectful of people you disagree with.
Why?
  • being a caring & responsible father.
Why?
  • speaking out if a wrong was done.
Why?

extending outwards
  • giving a substantial amount to the poor. not just your spare change.
Why?
  • being always on the ready to help those in need. small things that add up. like opening the door for the aged. picking up stuff for a lady. stoping over to help someone who had an accident.
Why?
  • going out of your way to be in touch with a depressed friend or loved one.
Why?

etc. etc. etc.

:whacky: Why? :whacky: Why? Why? :whacky:
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