Spiritual but not religious?

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Charlemagne_III

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I think there was a thread on this topic a while ago. If you can direct me to it, please do.

I hear constantly of people who say they are spiritual but not religious. What does that mean?

Is it not a little like saying, “I am scientific, but I don’t believe in science”?
 
You may be thinking of this thread.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=886481

It usually means that one has no association with or organized religion. The specifics vary from one person to another. Such a person may still hold on to some of the customs, beliefs, or traditions of religions that for part of the person’s background.

A person that is spiritual but not religious may have a god-concept, though it may be radically different from your own. If you discover some one is spiritual but not religious doesn’t tell you much about the individual’s beliefs.

I don’t think it matches the expression you gave about a scientist that does not “believe in” science (depending on what you mean by “believe in”). There no apparent incompatibility between some one not identifying with a mainstream religion and holding a set of beliefs about a non-material world.

Pardon my mistakes. Sent from my mobile device.
 
ThinkingSapien said:
You may be thinking of this thread.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=886481

I don’t think it matches the expression you gave about a scientist that does not “believe in” science (depending on what you mean by “believe in”). There no apparent incompatibility between some one not identifying with a mainstream religion and holding a set of beliefs about a non-material world.
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Thanks for the reference. I’ll check it out.

So a person who is spiritual but not religious is someone who believes in the life of the spirit but is attached to no creed?

I don’t see how that differs from a person who claims to be a scientist but is attached to no science.
 
I’ve always mentally converted it to “I feel warm and fuzzy sometimes, but I don’t know why.”
 
I just ask them which spirit they’re following. Often meets with a confused look which begins the conversation about why Christians don’t fall into that category. It at least plants a seed.
 
I was a little bit like that before my conversion, but now I can’t understand to have a spirituality without religion.

hope19
 
Charlemagne_III said:
Thanks for the reference. I’ll check it out.

So a person who is spiritual but not religious is someone who believes in the life of the spirit but is attached to no creed?
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There’s no creed. Such a person may or may not believe that some supreme spirit exists.
Charlemagne_III said:
I don’t see how that differs from a person who claims to be a scientist but is attached to no science.
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It’s more like an artist that doesn’t use paint; there’s many more ways to be artistic, whether by sculpting, through music, and so on. They some times have the view that each person may find their own way to interact with the spiritual (or produce art) and if other people choose other way to engage in spiritual matters, well that’s just fine.
 
Some who wants water from the tap but not willing to believe in the plumbing…is like spiritual not religious.

I’ve found these days people to change morals based on consensus if tha they cannot make the leap to organized religion.
 
Some who wants water from the tap but not willing to believe in the plumbing…is like spiritual not religious.

I’ve found these days people to change morals based on consensus if tha they cannot make the leap to organized religion.
 
There’s a whole generation of people whose upbringing included no religion- or they had a bad experience, or whatever.

But God planted the desire for spiritual life into us all. So, it seems quite understandable to me.

I thinks its actually a positive sign, and makes a lot of sense.

Being ‘spiritual but not religious’, is preferable than anything- except, of course, for being ‘spiritual and Catholic’, or ‘spiritual and Orthodox’.

Better for people to have no religion than a false one. Better no road, than a road which leads astray.
 
Nihilist said:
There’s a whole generation of people whose upbringing included no religion- or they had a bad experience, or whatever.

But God planted the desire for spiritual life into us all. So, it seems quite understandable to me.

I thinks its actually a positive sign, and makes a lot of sense.

Being ‘spiritual but not religious’, is preferable than anything- except, of course, for being ‘spiritual and Catholic’, or ‘spiritual and Orthodox’.

Better for people to have no religion than a false one. Better no road, than a road which leads astray.
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In my opinion, there can 't be spirituality without God.

hope19
 
hope19 said:
In my opinion, there can 't be spirituality without God.

hope19
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Many (though not all) spiritual people do believe there is a God. Though they may not attribute to that God the same attributes that other’s do. But that’s not incredibly unusual given that some different denominations also attribute different features and attributes to God.
 
I did meet a person who told me just like that. I asked if the Devil is a spiritual person, and I was told that the Devil does not exist (???). My understanding was that the person believed we have souls and there is an afterlife, but “we’ll see when we get there”😦
 
It usually means that people still are still longing for something spiritual, be it God the Creator in any form, or impersonal “energies of the Universe”, but do not to confine themselves within the limits of organized religion. The actual beliefs are then most often new-age based on some extent.

Basically, it’s “I want to feel spiritual, but without someone/something else telling me what to do, or asking questions I don’t want to think about”.
 
Agnessa said:
Basically, it’s “I want to feel spiritual, but without someone/something else telling me what to do, or asking questions I don’t want to think about”.
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Yes, to me that smacks of a certain lethargy. “I want to be spiritual, but I don’t want to have to work at it.”

As my cousin once said, “Catholicism is the hardest religion in the world to practice.”

Then she went and left the Church. I wonder how many have left the Church for the same reason.

But then I am reminded of the saying that the best achievement in life require the most work.
 
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