You’ve
probably heard that the number of people who identify themselves by the phrase
"spiritual but not religious" or “SBNR” is growing. In 1998, only 9
percent of American adults said they were spiritual but not religious. A 2009
Newsweek poll revealed that 30 percent of Americans refer to themselves as
“spiritual, not religious.” According to a survey referred to in a USA
Today article in October of 2012, 72% of millennials (18- to 29-year-olds) say
they're "really more spiritual than religious.”
But I’ll
be honest with you. I don’t know what
the heck that means. And my exploration
of this topic confirms that it doesn’t have much of a COMMON meaning. I read several articles, blogs, and a couple
of books that approached it from different directions – probably because folks
have differing definitions of both spiritual and religious.
I thought
it would be interesting to see the kinds of images used with these two
words. As you probably know, when you
put something in your google box and look it up – you can go to the top and
click “images” and see images used in the land of googledom with these words
--- and sometimes that gives you a “picture” or “pictures” that are
helpful. Here are the top images for
“spiritual” on google.
Ah, lots of
nature and blurry lines.
And when I
type in the word “religious,” these are some of the top images.”
You know
when you go to the eye doctor, you look through that fancy lens and they change
from frame to frame and ask you to pick the one that looks better.
Let’s do that. This one Or this one. Again – the 1st one or the 2nd
one.
Which one
– 1 or 2? Well folks, there are some
people like me who wear bifocals.
In any
case, I decided I would get some help figuring out what folks that I CONNECT with
mean if they say they are “spiritual but not religious.”
So I put
up a little survey on survey monkey – and shared it with our members and
friends and my Facebook friends – asking folks who identified in this manner to
complete it. There were 29 folks who
responded. About 60% of the folks did
not regularly attend church or any other faith group. But about the same number of folks DID have
“some” label that they used (like UU) to identify themselves
theologically.
When I
asked what they meant by “spiritual but not religious” I got lots of different
kinds of answers, but they generally fell into two categories. About half of them were talking about BELIEF
– and why their views did not fit the traditional theistic framework or did not
match the religions they knew about. Here
are a couple of representative quotes.
“I do not
necessarily believe in a literal God, and I certainly don't fit into any of the
organized religions. However, I feel like there is amazing beauty and wonder
all around us. I believe in the importance of a moral life and the importance
of love. I feel most spiritual when I connect to other people (through
meaningful conversation) or to nature.”
“Spiritual
is something I am -- the deep place inside of me and the interconnectedness
that I feel with every living thing. Spirituality is the god within. It's
always there, and I can always call on it. To me, the term religious feels very
confining -- like I have to follow rules with which I don't necessarily agree.
Traditional religion feels stuffy and inauthentic. I have NO interest in
practicing religion.”
Explanations
from the other half of the “spiritual but not religious” folks indicate that
they were not interested in an “ORGANIZED religion” or coming to church –
regardless of their beliefs. Here are
two representative quotes – and these are rather difficult for me to hear:
“As the
Indigo Girls lyrics tell it in Closer to Fine: "The less I seek my source
for some definitive, the closer I am to fine" Religion to me is a set of
disciplines that are supposed to allow one to feel close to their source, it is
their way to seek closeness with their source. But I find that the less I seek,
or the less I try, the easier it is to just BE close to my source. I don't feel
the need for a set of disciplines, the best I've done for myself is to let go
of those practices and instead just BE.”
“Spiritual
but not religious means you have turned your back on organized religion due to
the hypocritical nature of most of those organizations. I have found very few
church-goers, primarily Christians, to act in any way Jesus-like, and have
found Jesus-like behavior even less frequent among supposed church leaders.”
Hmmmmm.
In the
short time I have, I’m going to attempt to provide some response to both of
these groups.
To the
first group – put off by the dogma of many traditional religions; well join the
club. And actually, it’s an old
club. But it’s not necessarily a club
that has rejected the religious term and religious association. In fact, one of the reasons the Unitarian
Universalists opted NOT to have a creed was that our forebearers agreed that you
could be religious without a certain belief – especially in the traditional sky
god. A couple of you referred me to an
article in the New York Review entitled “Religion without God.”
The
editors indicate that before his death on February 14 of this year, the author,
Ronald Dworkin, sent to The New York Review a text of his new book, Religion without God, to be published by
Harvard University Press later this year. They published an excerpt from the
first chapter.
In this
chapter, Dworkin shares some ideas from lots of folks through history who seem
to be religious without a belief in God. For example, he quotes Albert Einstein,
who said that though an atheist he was a deeply religious man: Here’s what he
said:
“To know
that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the
highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can
comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling, is
at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong
in the ranks of devoutly religious men.”
As you
see, it all depends on how one defines religion – and folks like Einstein (and
many of us) have a much broader interpretation than religious
fundamentalists.
Although the
philosopher and psychologist William James would say that his religion really
IS what’s fundamental: that there are
“things in the universe,” as he put it, “that throw the last stone.” Theists
have a god for that role, but an atheist can think that the importance of
living well throws the last stone, that there is nothing more basic on which
that responsibility rests or needs to rest.
The
Supreme Court of the United States certainly recognizes that “religion” doesn’t
mean a belief in a deity or particular religious practices – and Dworkin cites
multiple cases.
Dworkin
contends that the term “religious” doesn’t connote a specific belief, but an
attitude – or perhaps a perspective.
Here’s how HE would describe that attitude:
“The
religious attitude accepts the full, independent reality of value. It accepts
the objective truth of TWO central judgments about value. The first holds that
human life has objective meaning or importance…. The second holds that what we call
“nature”—the universe as a whole and in all its parts—is not just a matter of
fact but is itself sublime: something of intrinsic value and wonder.
“We are
part OF nature because we have a physical being and duration: nature is the
locus and nutrient of our physical lives. We are apart FROM nature because we
are conscious of ourselves as making a life and must make decisions that, taken
together, determine what life we have made.”
Well, that
sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
I see our
Unitarian Universalist principles all over that!
For me,
religion is all about connection. That’s
what being religious is – connecting with what we hold as sacred, or ultimate,
or life-giving. Re- ligion means Re
connecting. The root word that “ligion”
comes from is the same root word that ligament comes from. It’s connection. So in the reading we had earlier, Sarah
Moores Campbell tells her gardener neighbor, “Yes, you are religious.”
And yes, I
certainly agree with Campbell and Dworkin that you CAN be religious without
God. A majority of Unitarian
Universalists would probably fit into that category, though many have redefined
God and still use that term. And the reason is because we allowed our religion
to EVOLVE and become more inclusive!
Now what
about that 2nd group from my survey, the folks that have rejected
organized religion and religious institutions?
I don’t know if there are any of you sitting HERE who feel that way who may
have come to this service just to see what I had to say. I’m probably preaching to the choir on this
point. But my sermons are also made
available online and passed on to many folks – so I’m going to try to respond
to those folks who feel that way.
First of
all, I hear you. I have been rejected by
many in my efforts to fit into some churches; till it almost feels like – why
bother. But I was blessed to find
Unitarian Universalism, a place where I did not have to check my brain, my
heart, or my identities at the door.
Unitarian Universalism has truly been my salvation – to use a heavily
loaded religious term. But it’s true for
me. I have found a religious faith
tradition where I CAN connect. And YES, I did use the word FAITH. Because faith is about trust. When one is faithful, that one is
trustworthy. And although we all have to
cautious, you can’t go through life without some trust – some faith in
something you can connect with.
And that
indeed is why we need to come to worship services, for connection to that
nourishing community, through music, listening and learning together,
participating in connecting rituals, planning ways to serve together, and of
course, sharing some good coffee. Folks
sometimes share what their spiritual practices are; perhaps yoga or meditation
or gardening. I always include worship
services. If our connection here is not
spiritual, I don’t know what is. It’s
all connection that provides us with the nourishment we need to move forward in
this world. I asked this group on our
listserv to share why you came to church and got several responses – but I’m
going to share just one which seems to incorporate what many others said. You may be able to guess who this is.
“I love UU. I am a UU.
I like being part of a church where I am reminded of our intention to
love one another- to honor the inherent worth and dignity of every person. I like that children are understood to have
inherent worth and dignity -- that we are a village, caring for one another. I am proud to be part of the church where we
stand on the side of love, at every opportunity. I value that I am known and loved here --
that I am expected and appreciated every Sunday.”
We come for many different reasons But come we do as we sing, “Come, come
whoever you are – wanderers, worshippers, lovers of leaving; ours is no Caravan
of despair, Come, yet again Come.”
Ours IS no caravan of despair. Yet we welcome the despair that many bring
with them. This is a place for
healing. And for me, at least, it’s a
holy place. Just as holy as that place we heard about in our children's story built by Thomas Potter so that the
message of Universal Love could be shared. Of course, it’s not a holy place because of this building, and indeed, this
congregation will be leaving this building.
But because of these people within it.
There are CERTAINLY holy places in
nature – we churchgoers too see the divine in a beautiful sunset. But we need
more than that – and it’s not just about what WE need – but about what we can
do for others working together. We need
this religious community, THIS holy place.
There is a song that feels like it’s
about this holy place in “Singing the Journey” and I’ve asked our fellowship
singers to sing “When Our Heart is in a Holy Place” for the offertory. Because the words are so meaningful, I’ve
included them on my PowerPoint so you can follow along. And if you feel like joining in, please
do.
But before they sing, here is my
altar call of sorts. If Unitarian
Universalism sounds like something you want to explore more, I invite you to
stay after the service on April 28 for our UU 101 session that I’ll lead. You’ll find out about that “free church tradition”
that James Luther Adams encourages. And
if this congregation feels like HOME to you, we’ll invite you to our UU
102. Just let me or our VP for
membership Teresa Winn know.
We’d love to have you join us, here –
Standing on the side of Love - in this spiritual AND religious community.
Amen and blessed be!