Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me

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Orleans_Attny

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On airplanes, I dread the conversation with the person who finds out I am a minister and wants to use the flight time to explain to me that he is “spiritual but not religious.” Such a person will always share this as if it is some kind of daring insight, unique to him, bold in its rebellion against the religious status quo.
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Next thing you know, he’s telling me that he finds God in the sunsets. These people always find God in the sunsets. And in walks on the beach. Sometimes I think these people never leave the beach or the mountains, what with all the communing with God they do on hilltops, hiking trails and … did I mention the beach at sunset yet?
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LINK

:compcoff:
Pax,
OA
 
Why not just be happy for them that at least they commune with God in their own way?
 
Wow, and insightful article on religion in the Huffington Post! Miracles do happen! 😛 😉 😃
 
That doesn’t make me happy though! I want people to go to heaven and I think they need to do more than give God a passing thought whenever they are enjoying His magnificent creation. I too see God’s hand in the sunset, at the beach, in a baby’s sweetness, but I also see it when I have a cross to bear or a trial to endure. I think the God of Abraham and Isaac certainly showed us He wants a bit more from us than a good feeling of gratitude when we experience His world.
 
Philotheatoo said:
Why not just be happy for them that at least they commune with God in their own way?
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I think its good to be happy for people that attempt to have a relationship with God. At the same time, I can totally see what the writer is saying, as many people who speak the line “spiritual but not religious” do seems to come off as kind of smug…as if they’ve discovered some great epiphany of spirituality. Not everyone though!

I actually define them as the same thing, no matter how others define it. The common definition is something like “religion tells you how to live your life, spirituality is just having a relationship with God.” Well I say if you have a relationship with God and that doesn’t change how you live your life, you are not spiritual! So they are pretty much the same, in essence.
 
Orleans Atty,

That is so funny. It’s bad enough when people talk in cliches, but idiotic ones are worse. Just what spiritual that supposed to mean? You cannot be spiritual without being religious, obviously, because religion is the construct, the container as it were, for any practice of spirituality, whether Catholic or Buddhist. It seems by “spiritual” all they really mean is “I’m a good person, I drive a Prius, and I recycle.” Religion, that requires too much thought and discipline.
 
Orleans_Attny said:
LINK

:compcoff:
Pax,
OA
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I first read this and pondered over how you could be a minister and still be catholic and an attorney. Takes a while some days for my brain to work … 😉

I did enjoy the article. I know many people who see God in sunsets and animals only.
 
All sounds so judgmental somehow…

Times are hard for folk to believe in the Church’s teachings. And they each start somewhere?
 
I, like Margie, do not understand ‘spiritual’ outside of religion. Nor do I believe one could have meaning without the other. I really only saw the guilt in the explanation; as though the person was trying to justify not going to church, or not formally praying, etc.
 
Philotheatoo said:
I, like Margie, do not understand ‘spiritual’ outside of religion. Nor do I believe one could have meaning without the other. I really only saw the guilt in the explanation; as though the person was trying to justify not going to church, or not formally praying, etc.
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Interesting deductions. And depends what you mean by “religion” also.
 
Orleans_Attny said:
LINK

:compcoff:
Pax,
OA
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lol those are the worst kind of people. you see, atheists I can respect, because they at least are humble in saying that the order of nature doesnt have to meet their every liking, but these so called “spiritual people” are the most arrogant, becasue they basically say “Ive got it all figured out” “im smarter than God and the saints and the church” “i do it my own way” and so on. thats basically their personality.
 
For starters, I claim that spirituality and religion are not necessarily the same thing. We’d like to think they are connected, but at least the way I use the terms, there is no need to have one in order to have the other.

That said, I can relate to becoming bored with hearing stories from people who think they’ve uniquely discovered truth, when in fact they talk in cliches that are a dime a dozen. So I have no problem with the article as an expression of a minister’s boredom, and isn’t it funny how people think that just because you are a minister you want to hear their spew?

But I don’t think that it is a wrong concept, but that doesn’t mean it’s interesting for a minister to hear about it from “Joe six-pack” to use a term from a former president.

Alan
 
agreed, agreed I used to be one of these people. I’m spiritual but not religious. LOL It really means they have no time to pray or for devotion. Of course we are all spiritual, we are spirits after all but we need to be more than that. Now what I wonder is if they are so spiritual why does my religion bother them? 🤷
 
AlanFromWichita said:
For starters, I claim that spirituality and religion are not necessarily the same thing. We’d like to think they are connected, but at least the way I use the terms, there is no need to have one in order to have the other.

That said, I can relate to becoming bored with hearing stories from people who think they’ve uniquely discovered truth, when in fact they talk in cliches that are a dime a dozen. So I have no problem with the article as an expression of a minister’s boredom, and isn’t it funny how people think that just because you are a minister you want to hear their spew?

But I don’t think that it is a wrong concept, but that doesn’t mean it’s interesting for a minister to hear about it from “Joe six-pack” to use a term from a former president.

Alan
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Your lack of charity and your language would deter most from your “religion”; Really!
 
Hopemercy said:
Your lack of charity and your language would deter most from your “religion”; Really!
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Please help me understand where you see lack of charity in my post. I know I sometimes say things and think about things differently from the way others do, but I just don’t see the lack of charity and frankly I don’t want it. If you are willing and able, please help me remove the plank from my eye.

Alan
 
I thought the sarcasm and lack of respect for the right of others to hold and express their own opinions in the linked article was appalling. I am not a believer, but would always hope to be more respectful of believers than this Minister.
 
Hokomai said:
I thought the sarcasm and lack of respect for the right of others to hold and express their own opinions in the linked article was appalling. I am not a believer, but would always hope to be more respectful of believers than this Minister.
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That occurred to me, too, but I was too timid to say it as directly as you have. :o

In his defense, I can understand that when he’s off the clock it might be nice to have a break from people who think that just because he has a religious vocation that he wants to spend his time listening to “amateurs” who think they have something to offer that is so profound, that as a “religious” person he couldn’t possibly have ever heard before.

For myself, when I’m off the clock, I find it a form of recreation and enrichment to hear and discuss the ideas of people about my profession, who have little or no formal training in it or have been taught differently. If I remain open, I just might just benefit; even if I don’t learn any “facts” from them, I can admire their enthusiasm and enjoy their willingness to open themselves up to a person who just might not reinforce what they have to say. Besides, maybe they’ve been wanting professional feedback on their ideas for years and maybe I can give them the first opportunity they’ve had in a long time if not forever, to get it. How is that any less worthwhile a ministry than standing before an audience preaching, and receiving a paycheck for it?

Alan
 
The pastor who authored the article seems to be poking fun at those who claim, “Spiritual but not religious.” I think that the article reflects the author’s own spiritual pride.

I suspect that he has forgotten that faith is a gift.
 
I guess I empathize with the author of the article because I heard this all the time when I was in college. The standard answer to “What music do you like?” was “Everything…except for Country” and the standard answer to “What religion are you?” was “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”

Basically, I think those people are disillusioned (for whatever reason) with organized religion but they do not indentify with flat-out atheism. I’m sure they’re sincere in that belief. It does enable people to retain the benefits of believing in God without having to answer to any outside authority as to Who God is and what He is like. But I don’t think that is the conscious, motivating factor in arriving at their conclusion.

As Mark Shea often quips: “I don’t believe in organized religion. I’m Catholic.” 😃
 
I agree with the author in that most of the people who refer to themselves as spiritual-not-religious seem to think they are so much better than the rest of us religious peons.

I say that not to be sarcastic, I speak from experience. I have lived with this for over 20 years now. And the author does not exagerate, these people DO say they find God in the sunset, which, in and of itself is great, but they assume, with certainty, that religious peons do not. Therein lies the problem.

Ironically, if they were truly spiritual (allowing the Holy Spirit to work in them), they would find religion.
 
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