Spiritual v. Religious
September 30, 2010
The last week of September I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego for our denominational pastor’s conference. It was hosted by the Office of the General Minister and President Sharon Watkins. The guest speaker was Diana Butler Bass who has researched and written about the mainline denominations, church practices and ways that churches have become vital congregations in the 21st century. There was one thing she shared with us that stood out the most to me.
She pointed out recent surveys show that fewer people identify with denominational labels and that there has become a distinction between being religious and spiritual. What I understood was that being religious is viewed as what I would call “doing Church”. Defining oneself as part of a denomination or church, understanding our faith as being a Disciple of Christ, Methodist, Independent, Non-denominational etc. Being religious is attending a church, participating in the worship by singing hymns, teaching Sunday School, being a deacon or an elder and whatever else it might mean to do church.
Being spiritual was defined almost completely as experiential. It could be facilitated by using practices to help experience something beyond oneself, the presence of the divine or spirits beyond the norm. Being spiritual however, was not something people did, but rather how they felt, how their emotions were affected by an experience or spiritual practice.
A 2005 Newsweek/Washington Post survey received the following answers. 25% of respondents stated they were spiritual, 8% religious, 12% neither and 55% both.
I propose that most of the people reading this article are part of the 55%. We are trying to be faithful in the world we find ourselves in. We are both religious and spiritual. We understand that doing church is necessary to being church. On the other hand we are also spiritual. We are in relationship to God. We are a real part of the body of Christ. We serve others because in God we have become servants. We feel the Holy Spirit. We can tell the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world. We understand our faith in and love of God as part of who we are, not something that exists in a separate category but rather as an integral part of who we are in Christ.
Wherever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances, whether religious or spiritual or both define us the best. Let us all remember who we are. We are the body of Christ in a broken and tragic world. D.C.
