Why are some people afraid of being religious

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Like stating you’re spiritual is somehow better than being religious.
 
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Some people associate religion with conflict.
Media people on the TV are trying to connect with a wide audience and know that if they embrace a particular religion they will lose segments of their audience.
So they play the “I’m Spiritual” or sometimes, “Don’t need religion, just need Jesus” card instead, thinking that will appeal most broadly to the audience.

I think it’s pretty wishy-washy myself, although it may be the truth if the person actually doesn’t strongly practice any religion.
 
Because if you really, firmly believe in something, you have to commit to it, and it will require you to adjust your behavior.

Having formless, wishy washy ideas and remaining uncommitted means you can do whatever you want and pretend that everything is OK. It’s “safer.”

I really like this quote by C.S. Lewis: "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” (The Four Loves)
 
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THIS THIS THIS^^^^^^^

Do not be swayed by popular thought.
You will not find happiness in the thought of the times.
Every age has had it’s issues.
God alone suffices.
 
Some, (many these days) are afraid of definition, especially self definition. To say you adhere to a specific religion and its tenets defines you to others. To say you are spiritual is a cowards way of saying I am inoffensive, tolerant, empathetic, and I won’t take a stand on anything. I want to be invisible, especially to myself.
 
I am one of the people who say I am spiritual but not religious. I am not afraid of being religious. I just haven’t found a religion I believe in wholeheartedly. Consequently, I would never join and commit to a religion that I really didn’t believe in, just to be able to say I was a part of that particular religion. It would be pretty hypocrytical to do that, in my opinion.

You will get varying opinions here. I would suggest if this is a topic you are truly interested in, you should ask people in your life who are “spiritual but not religious”. You will get varying responses from them also, but they will be coming from someone who is living “it”.
 
pensmama87 said:
Having formless, wishy washy ideas and remaining uncommitted means you can do whatever you want and pretend that everything is OK. It’s “safer.”
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With all due respect, this is really wrong. Remaining uncommitted to any one particular religion often means you are working much harder than those who already have commited, searching for answers and truth. It doesn’t mean one does whatever one wants, and that it is OK (in their mind). Please tell me you don’t honestly believe this about people who are “spiritual but not religious”. The majority of the people I know who don’t subscribe to one particular religion are some of the most moral people I have ever met. Why? Because they constantly are trying to get things right. They don’t blindly follow the rules of a church just because the church said so. They are thoughtful people who take the challenges life hands them quite seriously. They are concerned about the spiritual well-being of others, as well as their own spiritual health. I don’t know what you think being “spiritual” means to these people, but your post implies that you don’t have a clue. You may wish to find out, or at the very least not disparage them in the manner you just did in your post.
 
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joeybaggz said:
To say you are spiritual is a cowards way of saying I am inoffensive, tolerant, empathetic, and I won’t take a stand on anything. I want to be invisible, especially to myself.
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And the same goes for you, Joey. See post above.
 
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QwertyGirl said:
The majority of the people I know who don’t subscribe to one particular religion are some of the most moral people I have ever met. Why? Because they constantly are trying to get things right. They don’t blindly follow the rules of a church just because the church said so. They are thoughtful people who take the challenges life hands them quite seriously. They are concerned about the spiritual well-being of others, as well as their own spiritual health. I don’t know what you think being “spiritual” means to these people, but your post implies that you don’t have a clue. You may wish to find out, or at the very least not disparage them in the manner you just did in your post.
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I think there are some “spiritual but not religious” people who are as you describe. There are, in my experience, also “spiritual but not religious” people who are as pensmama described; often they’re people who have some vague sense of belief in some kind of deity or force, but prefer to make up their own moral rules as they go, or pick and choose concepts from 10 different religions based on what appeals to them, in a sort of “new age” way.

Bottom line is we cannot assume that people who don’t commit to a particular religion are one way or another. They’re not all serious searchers for truth any more than they’re all un-serious hedonists. It depends on the person. I also think that identification with/ commitment to a religion is heavily influenced by one’s experience of religion growing up; if you had a good experience then you see such commitment as positive, if you had a bad experience you see such commitment as negative, and if you had no experience or exposure, you could go either way depending on who influences you as an adult.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
It depends on the person. I also think that identification with/ commitment to a religion is heavily influenced by one’s experience of religion growing up; if you had a good experience then you see such commitment as positive, if you had a bad experience you see such commitment as negative, and if you had no experience or exposure, you could go either way depending on who influences you as an adult.
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I also know some people who would say they’re “spiritual, not religious” that pretty much anyone else would describe as “incredibly religious.” It’s popular in certain evangelical circles (even very conservative ones) as a way of differentiating “true faith” from “all those other religions.”
 
Idk about the rest of the world, but here it’s considered rude to talk about religion in public. Any religion. At all. In any non-religious context outside family & friends(and maybe not there either, depending). No one wants to be tagged as ”the guy who will pray out loud at colleagues over the water cooler” or ”hands out pamphlets at preschool pick-up”. As a consequence, people will answer ”spiritual, not religious” or ”I’m privately religious” and quickly change topics.
 
This is how I see being spiritual for myself but not religious. I do not practice a religion hence I’m not religious. I draw from many wells. I believe in a higher power that some might describe as God yet not the Trinity, Allah, Yaweh, etc… I prefer the Indwelling spirit or light.
I fail to see how this is wishy washy as closed minded people might simply because I don’t follow the religion (Catholicism) of my Mother who by the way is a cafeteria Catholic anyway. Please convince me that isn’t wishy washy. Being rigid in any belief is beyond my comprehension as beliefs can change. Thankfully or I’d be stuck with simply believing something because someone tells me it’s so. Please tell me what is wrong with exploring and studying? Sign me proudly spiritual but not religious.
 
There are a lot of spiritually abusive situations where religion is used against a person in a psychologically harmful way. Abuse is always an abuse of power. All our faculties can be abused in a manner that harm people. We can physically abuse people, verbally abuse people, emotionally abuse people, etc.

Spiritually abusive situations are where a person uses their perceived religious authority to domineer over us and hurt us. It can create situations where we start believing that God wants us to endure the abusive situation. We can tie unhealthy and harmful ways of thinking to our religious beliefs because of the abuse. It becomes difficult to heal from these traumas without losing one’s faith.

And while it may seem one could be healed of the psychological wounds, often the road to healing involves meeting people who insist that the path we need to be on is immoral, that it offends God, and they refuse to acknowledge the complexity of the situation. For some, watching people condemn us for going on a healing path creates such a scandal, that they start seeing ALL organized religion as a form of spiritual abuse.

It’s also very important to recognize that when we’re children, our perception of God is shaped by our parents. Parents become our model for who God is. God is the Father. So if our own fathers mistreated our mothers and us, if they abandoned us or hurt us, the idea of God being a Father is associated with lots of negative experiences.

So typically abuse situations and deep psychological wounds explain why people who grew up in strict religious homes, who were heavily involved in their religion, and seemed like the most devout people can sometimes do a complete 180 rebellion. Their rebellion is to distance themselves from the pain of their past. They may even speak of still struggling with the wounds they see their religion as having caused. And this all is made worse when religious people shun them and reduce and simplify their motivations in a judgmental manner.
 
Hereiam said:
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7_Sorrows:
Jesus said he was spiritual but not religious?
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7_Sorrows said:
Jesus said he was spiritual but not religious?
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Clearly…hence his many dialogues with the sribes and pharisees, who were religious, more interested in looking holy.
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but he was referring to Judaism.
you don’t think Jesus would approve of
Catholicism then?
 
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