I finally decided to weigh in on the modern phenomena of people describing themselves as spiritual but not religious. Unfortunately "religious" has become a dirty word for the modern progressive. The term religious has been tied to conservative ritual or dogma. I define dogma as human thought given divine status it doesn't deserve. Their are many people who have been wounded by the dogma of the conservative or traditional church. They feel quite strongly about not giving the church power over their sense of being ever again. Who can blame them or judge them? Unfortunately many do. Religious people have given religion a bad name. However, not all religious people deserve the infamy. The wounded past church members and/or the never churched who still seek the divine presence place themselves on a path calling themselves spiritual but not religious. To answer the needs of the modern seekers, there are new spiritual leaders who do seminars, lectures, and group meetings, any kind of gathering, as long as it isn't called church. Because the church is where that nasty religious stuff happens. I've attended some of these gatherings and listened to some of these lectures. Interestingly enough they sound a lot like church to me. They don't use the traditional words but the meanings are similar. They don't do the old rituals but they have actions they repeat at each meeting that are becoming new rituals. They really are trying to reinvent the wheel.
The truth is that all not churches are dogmatic; not all churches are judgmental. Not all churches will wound the progressive soul. There are many churches that are very spiritual and religious in a non-harmful way. There are churches that are very open and accepting of all people. Churches that create positive community and support for each other. Churches that reach out to the poor and oppressed. There are churches that respond to desperate needs in areas of disaster and war. I belong to one of those churches. We are a very spiritual people who reach out to the world and to each other. Our community does not draw a circle to exclude but creates a circle to include. This reminds me of the Edward Markum poem, They drew a circle that shut me out;
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took them in.We are a denomination of accepting people and we are not the only ones. We are Disciples of Christ. I pastor a local church of the Disciples of Christ called First Christian Church. We are not about judgment; we are about loving God and each other. We are about loving all people, even people we disagree with. We are Christian and believe in God the three in one -- Parent, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. But we are not dogmatic about how each should believe. We believe God is big enough to individually tailor a relationship with each of us, creating a unique faith or belief for each person. Any one of our churches can have people from any spectrum of life and still be a cohesive community of spiritual seekers of the divine presence. Here you can be religious and spiritual or just spiritual. Here the terms have not been damaged by misuse. We welcome you as you are!
