Say What?

“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual”

I heard this quote today on the radio and thought about it for awhile while I was on the soundstage wrapping cables, doing some work study. What exactly does it mean when someone says that they’re not religious, but instead spiritual. I decided to do some research and see what exactly people mean by this.

Wikipedia suggests, “an important distinction exists between spirituality in religion and spirituality outside religion.” The definition itself is “matters of the spirit, a concept often but not necessarily tied to to a spirit world, a multidimensional reality of one or more deities.” I guess I have never taken the time to ponder on the thought of not really following a specific religion, yet still believing in something beyond our grasp. This reminds me of the concept of universalism, that is, having an “apply to all,” aspect.

It seems that I have hit the jackpot in seeing that ,”Those who speak of spirituality outside religion often identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious” and generally believe in the existence of many “spiritual paths” and deny that there is an objectively definable best path to follow. I tend to not be able to gather an idea that can be easily summarized when it comes to what I believe in specifically. Though, in this instance, I feel as though that phrase is said as a cop out.

“For a Christian to refer to themself as “more spiritual than religious” (may, but not always) imply relative deprecation of rules, rituals, and tradition while preferring an intimate relationship with God. Their basis for this belief is that Jesus Christ came to free man from those rules, rituals, and traditions, giving them the ability to “walk in the spirit” thus maintaining a “Christian” lifestyle through that one-to-one relationship with God.”

With that quote that compiles the previous paragraph, I am now back to square one. It seems to make sense that an individual “christian” would say this. I can see that certain churches get so caught up in performing those rituals and making sure they meet the “status quo” for that specific denomination that they lose sight in what they should be aiming for.

This sort of falls in line to my beliefs in claiming to be non-denominational. I went to a Southern Baptist church in high school, but I never claimed myself as one. I think it is more about the idea that we all serve the same God, that we’re all here with the same basic belief, yet we form more factions inside our religion to separate us even more from each other. Ultimately, I think we’re only hindering ourselves from the potential that could be if we all united as a group and didn’t focus on how we lived in accordance to how we interpreted the Bible, but that we all desire the same God.