Spirituality or Religion?

It happened again over the course of this past weekend. A relative stranger, on discovering that I pastor a church said to me that she was more spiritual than religious. The phrase has spread to be representative of a new cultural trend away from organized religion but toward spiritual practices and beliefs.

What exactly does it mean to be more spiritual than religious?

Shiloh's Bible study groups have been working at deciphering cultural trends that affect the church and have come to some important conclusions. The conversation is an extension of our definition of faith as fidelity to God's will. (See last week's post to The Shiloh Insider for a discussion surrounding this definition.)

If God's will is the Christ archetype, a model of Crucifixion/Resurrection, the Hellenistic Heavenly virtues - or, as Mrs. Keller taught my kindergarten class, "Just be nice." - then our definition of faith calls us to be committed to this description of God's will. Our loyalty and devotion are to that which is revealed in the mission and ministry of Christ Jesus.

Maintaining the link between the will of God and our devotion, commitment and loyalty is either religion or spirituality. While spirituality, as an approach to maintaining God's will, is organic and natural to the relationship, religion, as an approach, is external and mechanical.

Let me try to clarify. In spirituality, we may understand that God's will is, in fact, a function of human essential nature. If life itself is understood as God's Spirit being breathed into otherwise inanimate matter, then human beings are essentially both spirit and flesh. It is no less a function of human essential nature to live according to the higher virtues of the spirit than it is to live according to the desires and hungers of the flesh.

The Spirit, as part of essential human nature, allows that humanity may naturally live out God's will in every relationship and at every moment. To do less is to be less than fully human. Failing human potential leads to disjointedness in the human condition, frustration, dissatisfaction, anger and disillusionment with the ways of the world. Humans who fail to live out their spiritual selves disconnect with the logos of the universe, thus creating division, hatred and self-loathing.

On the other hand, religion is a mechanical and external attempt at maintaining God's will as a function of faith. As Sigmund Freud noted in Totem and Taboo, humanity creates religion for two purposes: 1. To render the mortal immortal and 2. To control the behavior of one's self and others. The religious super ego is seen as over and above human essential nature. In fact, it corrects the flaws of human essential nature by creating moral standards and psycho/social mores. The divine is above. It is other. Religion, then, provides sets of orthodoxies, rituals and beliefs that are prescribed by an external being, with whom humanity forms a contentious relationship.

So, if being more spiritual than religious means that persons are choosing to live out of the spiritual side of human nature instead of giving in to some external control mechanism, then I am more spiritual than religious as well. So, it turns out, are many of those who attend our Tuesday and Thursday Bible studies at Shiloh Church. To be completely honest, I must confess that I see the transition from religion to spirituality in the church as a further step in human spiritual evolution.

Are you spiritual or religious? Can we be both?