Religion vs. Spirituality

"The essence of religion:
Fear God and obey God.
The quintessence of spirituality:
Love God and become another God."
-Sir Chinmoy

I was raised in a "religious" home. Church on Sundays, (AM and PM), VBS in the summer, Christmas Eve and Easter services.... Around the age of sixteen I told my mom, "I didn't want to go to church anymore." It wasn't that I was turning my back on God. My belief in an omnipotent being was (and continues to be) strong. It was some time later before I could verbalize that my problem was not spiritual, rather my issues were with organized religion.

1. Often religion finds its premise in fearing God. We're told to "do the right thing" so we don't "suffer" in the future. The spiritual approach suggests we find God through love. God is not to be feared, but to be approached through the path of love.


2. In religion, God is referred to as being in the heavens, someone far from our reach. Spiritually speaking, God is omniscient and omnipresent. He is a living presence in one's heart. Not only is he reachable, but we can have an inner realization of God as well.


3. Many religions feel that only their faith can lead to salvation. In other words, their religious beliefs are the "right" ones, and everyone else's beliefs are wrong. This is one of the greatest hypocrisies in the religion debate. Spirituality allows us to accept that we all have the same goal, we just take different paths to get there. One religion is not better than another; it's simply a matter of upbringing and personal beliefs. The important thing is to just have faith.


4. Religion focuses on an outward expression of beliefs and rituals. It's more of a public forum. Spirituality is intrapersonal. The focus is on the individual's one-on-one relationship with God.

Based on these differences, I find religion to often be hypocritical, narrow-minded, and on occasion, even oppressive.

Too many people are "Sunday Saints." It's as if going to worship on the Sabbath and repenting trumps any sins or wrong doings for the week. Publicly proclaiming your faith only to turn around and cheat on your spouse, lie to your boss, and slander other human beings is pure blasphemy.

As previously mentioned, the ultimate goal is to find salvation through the guidance of a supreme being. Religion is merely a means to an end. To profess superiority of one's beliefs over another's undermines God's sole intent. What limited insight to believe that Christian Trial Lawyers and Christian Brothers Auto are most worthy of your patronage.

Lastly, there is nothing uplifting about being preached "at." The last sermon I heard a little over a year ago used the song Amazing Grace as its springboard. The minister began with an anecdote about a C&W band who sang the song but changed the word "wretch" (the lyrics say "saved a 'wretch' like me") to "soul." The message was that the band was wrong for having done this because "all of us in the congregation were wretches" and needed to be reminded of such. Now I don't know about you, but when I go to church I don't expect to be chastised. This is not to say I'm 100% saint and automatically absolved of all wrong doing. But I'm definitely not the evil, vile transgressor this person would have me believe. I left feeling like a dog with their tale between their legs. And obviously the sermon's intent disturbed me enough that I feel the need to bring it up a year later.

In closing, I recognize that for many, religion and spirituality go hand-in-hand. But for others, it does not mean their faith is any less strong because they don't attend church, mass, temple, etc.... Print and media make it easy to learn and spread God's word. The approach is not what's important. Having faith is.

"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." ---Ephesians 2:22