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A Church Beyond Belief

Can We Be Spiritual Without Being Religious?

9/15/2014

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Sam Harris is at it again. He’s created a buzz about spirituality vs. religion in his new book, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. In doing so he’s tapped into the hot topic that captured headlines last year:  the rise of the “nones” and the growing number who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”

What is intriguing is that there is much being said about this without defining what is meant by “spiritual” and “religious.” Without creating a debate about meanings, it seems at its core that “spiritual but not religious” is shorthand for “I’m done with institutional religion but haven’t given up on the idea of something that transcends us.”

This is understandable because institutional religion is often perceived as the perpetuator of dogma and religious obligations. And the perceptions of these two things by the public are not pretty, as Dallas Willard captures well: “Dogma is what you have to believe, whether you believe it or not. And law [religious obligations] is what you must do, whether it is good for you or not.” With this understanding, who would want to be part of a religious institution?!

However, being spiritual and being religious share something in common: they both involve relationships. “Religion” involves shared beliefs and practices among people, and “spirituality” involves a connectedness to one’s self and others.  Because of this, those who are spiritual but not religious are finding ways to be in community. And if this is done for any sustained period of time, new institutions will emerge that have "religious" overtones because of the norms that are shared. And so the cycle continues. In the end, it may be hard to be spiritual but not religious.

Perhaps the message being sent by those who are spiritual but not religious is that they are not interested in rigid institutions that care little about people’s questions and struggles. Instead they would rather leave the institution and create alternative communities that embrace people for who they are and where they are in life.

This should be a wakeup call for the leaders of the institutional church. The institutional church may not survive in its current form, but there will always be a place for communities that provide spiritual belonging. 



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An Unusual Turn in Belonging

8/25/2014

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Belonging can no longer be presumed. There are countless people who are unsure where or how they might belong. Yet there also are signs that people who have felt left out are taking initiative.

Witness the rise of so-called atheist “churches.” In its August 4, 2014 issue, Time described the popularity of such groups, even in the “Bible Belt” of the Deep South. Simply put, there is a movement of atheists to assemble regularly at local levels. 



Atheists, who deny the existence of a deity, and agnostics, who rest on their doubts, are less than ten percent of the population. They argue their ranks are larger and growing. The reasons they give skirt belief in God or not.

 Atheism’s complaint is the failure of Christians to live up to their own ideals. The love of God revealed in Jesus is undone in churches. Atheists and agnostics say their group has no doctrine or guilt, no hierarchy or moral freight.

 The churches must take this seriously. To offer genuine belonging, the churches must return to their ideals. These include an emphasis on difference. People at all stages of life, and of belief, must be welcomed.

Despite their avowed openness, atheist “churches” succumb to one of the shortcomings of people who seek to belong today: they find enclaves for those who only think alike. Churches of the more familiar sort also succumb if they raise doctrinal obstacles to belonging.

Instead, the Christian marks of belonging center on the love of God revealed in Jesus for all people. Difference is embraced. All are welcome.

A choir member once told me he never recited the Creed in worship; he did not believe it. Defiantly he asked what I thought of that. I said the only thing I could say: “You are welcome.” 


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    William L. Sachs
    Michael S. Bos

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