Spiritual But Not Religious
How does one respond to the “I consider myself spiritual but not religious” challenge?
Key Takeaways:
- Get to know their viewpoint; atheism differs from agnosticism, but both raise questions.
- Discuss the limits of spirituality without religion.
- Show them the value of seeking more knowledge and encourage them to learn the spiritual truth.
- Inform them of the evidence that God has revealed Himself and to at least explore it for themselves.
Many people today identify as spiritual but not religious (SBNR), meaning they believe in a supernatural or spiritual dimension but do not adhere to any specific religious tradition.
This challenge means that although they don’t participate in a specific religion, they believe in the existence of the supernatural, a spiritual dimension beyond our natural realm.
Atheism, Agnosticism, and Spirituality
While this perspective at least acknowledges that atheism is not the default position, it also raises important questions about the nature of truth, knowledge, and our relationship with the divine.
Atheists assert that God does not exist but defers itself from agnosticism, which either claims uncertainty ("soft" agnosticism) or insists that God's existence is unknowable ("hard" agnosticism).
The Limits of Spirituality Without Religion
The stance on “spiritual but not religious” makes some valid points, particularly in recognizing that atheism is not the default position and that any claim about reality—whether theistic or atheistic—carries a burden of proof.
Despite its inherent belief that this stance is the safest or most rational, this belief is a denial of the human ability to know God, and ignorance of significant evidence for God’s existence becomes increasingly unreasonable. There’s a common assumption that religious belief requires extraordinary proof, but atheism does not.
However, one must understand that both positions must account for the nature of reality and explain fundamental aspects of existence, such as morality, consciousness, and the fine-tuning of the universe.
Wouldn’t knowing more about the world’s spiritual dimension be nice? Knowledge is better in all fields, and learning more about the world’s spiritual dimension can aid us in every aspect.
The Value of Seeking Knowledge
Religion allows us to investigate and learn more about the supernatural we cannot observe in our natural plane of existence. Religion, particularly Christianity, provides a structured way to explore spiritual truth rather than relying solely on personal experience.
From the Christian view, we can understand that God loves us and calls for us to know Him more and to learn knowledge of Him rather than just “feelings.”
Evidence for God in the World, in History, and in Our Hearts
God gave us evidence in our world and hearts to learn about Him.
“Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” - Romans 1:20.
“With [man’s] openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence. In all this, he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material, can have its origin only in God”. - Catechism of the Catholic Church 33
“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.” - C.S Lewis.
God has also entered history, connecting us through His prophets and Son, Jesus Christ. We must examine and present the evidence showing God has communicated with us, and the evidence leads us to discover God and the happiness He wants us to have through reconciling with Him.
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only God will he find truth and happiness he never stops searching for” - Catechism of the Catholic Church 27.
“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” - St. Augustine (Confessions 1:11).
Some critics might say that religion is only a fallacy of human perception.
Religion is not a byproduct of human evolution, and our ancestors did not have an overactive agency detection system that caused them to imagine things that didn’t exist. This was true for our old ancestors who needed to be wary of their surroundings for the sake that a false thing could be real life or death.
These critics of religion argue that the overactive agency detection system was passed on to us, which makes us imagine a god who doesn’t exist.
But even biologists say that this is untrue:
“Imaginative reconstructions of how things might have evolved are not science; they are stories.” - Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution Is True.
Perhaps it makes more sense that we can detect God since God has given us an instinct to find and worship Him.
Religion Is Not a Justification for Wrongdoing
Religion is not a justification for wrongdoing, and we are not to be discouraged by those who defame religion by choosing to sin and do wrong within it. The Bible distinguishes between a true religion and a distorted version used to justify sin:
“If anyone thinks that he is religious but does not restrain his tongue, he is deceiving himself, and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and undefiled is this: to come to the aid of orphans and widows in their hardships and to keep oneself untarnished by the world.” - James 1:26-27
It is unfair and discriminatory to say that all are one way because of a few. It is unjust to say that all athletes are cheaters or that all red shirts are ugly.
In an equal sense, it is unfair to say that religion is a sham because of a few wrongdoers.
But all wars are started because of religion?
Most wars are not fought over religion but rather for non-religious reasons, such as securing land or natural resources.
But religion has too many rules?
In the same way, as rules make a sports game possible, rules come from God’s perfect wisdom to find our true happiness through religion.
Conclusion
Rather than viewing religion as restrictive, consider it a path to understanding the supernatural reality that spirituality acknowledges. True fulfillment comes from believing in something beyond ourselves and seeking and embracing the truth of God’s existence.
May God bless you.
