On being spiritual but not religious

These are folks who want to feel as if they are worshiping God, without having to follow any of His teachings. They're like the employee who wants a paycheck but does not want to do any work.

Unfortunately, the Christian life is not like that. It requires commitment and requires us to turn away from our selfish desires and turn toward Christ, even when it means that we are uncomfortable or denied our own wishes. Anything less is not worthy of Him, Who willingly gave His life for us.

How easy it would have been for the Lord to say, "You know, I'm really tired of all this doctrine and preaching, I'm just not feeling it" and gone off to do some yoga on a beach rather than offer His life for our salvation.

This is one of the only commentaries on this subject that I have ever seen that didn't put all the "blame" on the "self-centered" people who are trying to live spiritual lives without organized religion. Good for you!

But, it's not just the young who are turning away from religion in their spiritual quest - the Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR) - many older people are too. In the Catholic church it includes those of us from what is designated the "Vatican II" generation. The surveys by William D'Antonio et al (published in NCR) that have been conducted since 1987 clearly show the trends -

"For the Vatican II generation (now age 51-70), the rate[of mass attendance] was about forty percent during the first three surveys, but has dropped ten percentage points—to thirty-one percent in the last two surveys."

I think that the reasons many Vatican II Catholics have dropped out are different from those of young people. Most of those of us who are older and have chosen to drop out are just tired of fighting the restorationist tide. We came of age in what we thought was the flowering of the church opening to the world. An age where the hierarchy recognized that they are just a small part of the church, and where their role was servant leaders. We have seen the church return to the days of our childhood, full of petty tyranny, focused on man-made rules and again expecting the laity to be docile (and dumb) sheep who will simply sit there and "pray, pay and obey". This process that has been going on since even before John Paul II, but it accelerated under him, and will not improve in our lifetimes. Why should we continue to enable the dysfunction? At our ages, we are more focused on the spiritual life than ever, and the church does not address this very well.

Many (probably most) of the young people never bought into most of it in the first place, once they were in their teens anyway. Away from the parental home, they stop going to church. They are of a generation that sees the hierarchy's obsession with bedroom issues as ludicrous when there are many real issues to address. Jesus wasted little time on the issues that preoccupy the hierarchy of the Catholic church. The young are especially turned off by the hypocrisy on this issue - they have not missed the clerical child molestor stories nor have they missed the reality that the hierarchy and pope have yet to do the right thing and be accountable. Now they also see a public college doing a lot better job in holding accountable people who protected an institution and a probable sexual predator than they have seen the pope or bishops do. Why should they trust these men as moral guides?

The young look at problems in the world - poverty, violence, addiction, terrorism, inequality - including gender discrimination - and see their church doing nothing except waste ten years revising a few words in the prayers of the mass. They are not much aware that the church actually has a lot of "little" people (not hierarchy though) who are quietly working to alleviate suffering caused by all of these things. Because it is THE church doing these things - not the bishops who are fiddling away in their mansions while the church slowly dies. Unfortunately the bishops are the visible face of the church - the face that is in the news - and this face does not attract many.

Those who want to attribute the move away from organized religion to "self-centeredness" or lack of discipline, etc are choosing to miss the point. There is a huge hunger for spirit in the world - but the institutions who are "losing customers" prefer to put the blame on anything but themselves - self-centeredness and lack of discipline etc being convenient excuses.

"Many people who used to attend a house of worship or were raised in a particular faith are going off on their own, searching for God in sunsets and beaches, in yoga classes, meditation centers, technology apps, discussion groups and even shelters and soup kitchens where they volunteer their time."

With the possible exception of "technology apps" (??), those who lament that so many are substituting these practices for church attendance are missing clues that are right in front of them. They are condescending to those who find God in the sunsets or at the top of the mountain. Those who don't see God in the sunset may not actually know God at all. Instead of simply judging the SBNR as self-centered or whatever, they should be analyzing how these practices are supporting people's spiritual journeys and figure out how they can bring them into the church experience also. You all are missing a golden opportunity to find out what churches should be doing to bring people back. Yoga can be simply a physical fitness practice and stress reliever or it can also have a spiritual dimension. Usually that spiritual dimension involves meditation. Yet few Catholic churches teach meditation or offer centering prayer. Discussion groups? Yes - people want to talk about their spiritual journey and the struggles with moral decisions, but they want to do it in an accepting and open environment, not in one where they will be judged deficient and "corrected" or judged or lectured to. Young adults are very busy - yet they give up their personal time because of a desire to serve also, often by volunteering in soup kitchens etc. They must not be supported well in this by church communities or they wouldn't be going out on their own to do this work.

There has been a lot of handwringing about this in the religious press in the last few years. Most of the articles I've read say the same thing - the SBNR are lazy, or uncommitted, or self-centered, or want to justify a hedonistic lifestyle etc. Nobody is looking more deeply it seems. Why not? Is it because then maybe the church communities themselves might have to also change a bit in order to bring them back?

A question - why do church people even think it's important for the SBNR to return to regular churches? Is it because they bring money to the churches?

I hope as our Advent season lectio divina to prepare most fully our hearts, minds, souls, households and lives for the coming of the Christ child we may each take time each day to read the wonderfully edifying spiritual treatise by the Dalai Lama titled

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World

which meditates deeply upon our cardinal virtues and more. It is a book I carry and read often, having an advance review copy of this important, profound, highly readable work available for public release in early December. It is like reading one of our own saint's thoughts on compassion, forgiveness, charity, patience, etc., and very useful reminder for everyone on the path to peace.

Apparently Ms. Fiedler does not believe in the True Presence because the last time I checked, one cannot receive the Body and Blood of Christ on the beach or in a yoga class.

For those who are spiritual but not religious, I suggest you go to the Archdiocese of Boston's website and read Cardinal O'Malley's new letter on this very topic.

Spiritual People tend to be open to all people, where the Religious people have ritual, scriptures and Ministers to seperate them from the people of God, and make them feel somehow better than, and they can become God's Police force, while their own life can be full of private sin. Look at the GOP one of the largest "Christian" Groups in America and they would deny the poor care and service as to balance a budget, they support the Death Penalty while proclaiming to be Pro-Life, then denying the child care because its poor.

"By the fruit ye shall know the tree".
Can we deny that the fruit of one hour working in a soup kitchen can exceed that of the same hour kneeling and mumbling words?
There is room for both practices, of course; no two humans are completely alike, and no two spiritual disciplines should be either. As I read Jesus, he was more of a carpenter than a Pharisee but I suppose there's room for both in the Church, if the latter didn't so anathematize the former.