Monday, April 1, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Do You Know Anyone Who Tells You: "I'm Spiritual, But Not Religious"?


Recently I had a phone call from a neighbor, inviting me out for a golf date.  I don't really play golf, so I had to decline.  But, we had not spoken for a while, so I extended the conversation to ask about his summer plans and what his kids would be doing in the fall.  Then I suggested that he and his wife might find some interest in some of the things we are doing at Central Presbyterian Church.  I offered to take them to one of our church services and to introduce them to our Senior Pastor.

"Jim, thanks," said my neighbor, "but you have to understand that I am spiritual, but not religious, and my wife feels the same way.  But, thanks for asking."

Later, I wondered about my neighbor's response.  What does it mean to be "spiritual, but not religious"?  Does it just mean not being denominational?

I remembered that my neighbor once told me that he finds God in the sunsets, in walks on the beach, in vistas from mountain tops.  Clearly, for him, God is in Nature.  But does that mean that people who go to church ---- the people who are "religious", like me, are sort of like monastic hermits who never see beyond their church building?  Does he think we don't see God in the sunset?  Perhaps he thinks we do not recognize that God is in Nature when we read the Bible's Psalms and Creation stories.

Being privately "spiritual but not religious" just seems like eating only snack food.  There is nothing very challenging about having deep feelings of inspiration from viewing a beautiful sunset, or viewing the countryside from a mountain top.  For some folks, spirituality might also arise from forming gratifying relationships with other people, perhaps even just from helping them!

These Nature experiences are wonderful and uplifting, but do they feed our rational side?  I think my relationship with God becomes rich and profound only when we dig deeply into a religious tradition that we did not invent emotionally ourselves ---- one not invented merely for our own delight.

Could one say that being  privately spiritual, and nothing more, is to be a bit self-centered?  Such people may find ancient religious doctrine dull, while finding their own easily fed emotional lives much more interesting. 

So, what difference would it have made if my neighbor had said that he is religious, not merely spiritual?  In my view, he would be saying that he had been shaped by "a mighty cloud of witnesses," sharing the wisdom and faith of many generations.  Importantly, that he is someone brave enough to encounter God in a living, human community.

We are aware that when we least expect it, any of us can suddenly wonder why we are here and where we are going, but church involvement gives us a way to work that out.  And when life gets scary, my neighbor might want the company of someone "religious" holding his hand, saying a prayer and simply putting up with him, just as many church people try to do.

I know that some people are not going to be comfortable entering traditional church buildings or theological traditions.  To understand the ritual of worship in a traditional church setting requires some prior learning ---- some familiarity with Scripture and basic theological concepts.  But, perhaps one of the benefits of adding some "religion" to one's "spirituality", is that we move closer to discovering God's purpose for us ---- not just to be a spectator of beautiful sunsets.

Nearly 30% of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, according to a Gallup survey.  But more than 90% of Americans still believe in God, or in a universal spirit, according to Gallop research, even as fewer claim a particular religious "brand" or denominational identity.  While more people seem to be opting not to align themselves with a particular religious denomination or tradition, their interest in faith of some kind remains keen.  Some folks just don't like the aura of past-founded religious denominations, where the church appears to outsiders to be like a private club.

This growing disinterest in theological dogma and abstract tradition,  reminds one of earlier cycles in American religious practice.   For example, consider the 19th Century Transcendentalist Movement, which some of us may remember puzzling over in college literature courses.

"Transcendentalism" is a cluster of ideas in literature and philosophy that developed in the 1830's and 1840's.  The Enlightenment had come to new rational conclusions about the natural world, based mostly on science experimentation and logical thinking.  However, the pendulum then began swinging to a less rational, more intuitive, more-in-touch-with-the-senses, way of thinking.  As one of the thought-leaders of the day said, "God gave humankind the gift of intuition, the gift of insight, the gift of inspiration ---- why waste such gifts?"

Among the core beliefs of the Transcendentalists was an "ideal spirituality" that transcends the physical and empirical, and is realized only through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrine of the established religions.  Transcendentalists longed for a more intense spiritual experience.  Some of the major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.  They were strong believers in the power of the individual ---- they were champions of individualism.  They believed in the ability of mankind unassisted to realize almost anything.

Transcendentalism, in fact, is said to really have begun as a religious movement, an attempt to promote the idea that humankind is capable of direct experience of the Holy.  It was a reaction to the Unitarian rationalist view that the truths of religion are arrived at only by a process of empirical study and by rational inference from historical and natural evidence.  William Henry Channing (1810 - 1844) viewed Transcendentalism as a pilgrimage from the "idolatrous worlds of creeds and rituals, to the Temple of the Living God in the soul."

However, Orestes Brownson, a contemporary of Emerson, thought he saw "transcendental selfishness" in such views.  "Are all things in the universe to be held subordinate to the individual soul?  Shall a man take himself as the center of the universe, and say all things are for his use, and count them of value only as they contribute to his growth or well-being?  According to this system,'I am everything; all else is nothing, at least nothing except what it derives from the fact that it is something to me.' "

In the end, don't we need to be both spiritual and religious?  I find that each strengthens the other.  But they both take some work.  Some people may think the heavy lifting is just in the theology of church participation.  However, being simply "spiritual" isn't always easy.  Sometimes finding God in Nature is a struggle.  Do you remember Hurricane Sandy? !!  Did you find God in that event?
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal growth this Spring at CPC.
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