Is there danger in being "spiritual and not religious"?


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eHA_Admin_Lori is offline eHA_Admin_Lori — Advice Official Moderator Post #1  June 5,2010, 11:35am
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I saw this article:

Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'? - CNN.com

and wondered what the folks here would think.

Do you agree that absence of an organized religion in ones life leaves them less likely to live in a highly moral way?

Thanks in advance for an interesting and respectful discussion.
 
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meri75 is offline meri75 Post #2  June 6,2010, 4:04am
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eHA_Admin_Lori wrote :
Do you agree that absence of an organized religion in ones life leaves them less likely to live in a highly moral way?
I think it is no different to any other belief of faith. There are those who are the real deal and those who are lip service experts.

As we've seen over and over in the media, being involved in religion isn't a guarantee that the person will live a moral lifestyle.

I do not think it is the religion in question which defines a person's ability to live morally; but their purity of heart.
 
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Luminous_Knight is offline Luminous_Knight Post #3  June 6,2010, 11:23pm
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meri75 wrote :
I think it is no different to any other belief of faith. There are those who are the real deal and those who are lip service experts.

As we've seen over and over in the media, being involved in religion isn't a guarantee that the person will live a moral lifestyle.
Couldn't have said it better myself. So true.

Good day,
LK
 
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coeuri is offline coeuri Post #4  June 8,2010, 3:30pm
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I looked at the article you mentioned and am of two minds about it. Here are some of my thoughts on the issues raised there.

I don't think being a part of any organized anything insures you will be more moral than those who are outside of it. As Meri, said, who we are inside has more to do with the choices we make. Also, what are choices are will be influenced by our environment, even to the point of our organized groups taking on the influences brought by the various cultures that make up its constituency.

Having said that though, I do believe it is important to find a faith community to be a part of for encouragement and accountability. We do live in a diverse world and it is easy to naval gaze and call it faith. For me, faith, a connection to something greater than ourselves will lead us to look beyond ourselves to the world in which we live.

A community of others gives us a place to work through our beliefs, our "spirituality" and can help us to discern what is related to our belief in something higher in our own being, what is for our higher good even, and what is simply related to wants that are based on a world of one -- ourselves.
 
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neardc is offline neardc Post #5  June 8,2010, 4:05pm
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Hmmm.... I guess I don't see "spiritual but not religious" as simply being an alternative to choosing a church. In fact, I don't assume that it requires a belief in God. And, if your spiritualism does not include God, why would you affiliate with a church where God is worshiped?

Certainly being part of a religious community doesn't assure morality (think here, for example, of the group of Congressmen who shared a house here in DC for religious fellowship, and yet nearly all of them had extramarital affairs or engaged in other bad behavior). Nor does being non-religious mean that you don't have a moral code or feel responsibility for helping people who are poor or others in need. In fact, if you are self-motivated to do that, isn't that "better" than doing so simply because a religious community makes "demands" on you?

Just because you are not part of a larger spiritual group doesn't mean that your gaze only focuses inward...
 
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big_bear7 is offline big_bear7 Post #6  June 22,2010, 8:18pm
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No, there is absolutly no danger what so ever. A lot of people are religious, in fact most of the world but very few people are spiritual. Just take one second and think of, lets say 3 people that you know that go to church(it doesn't matter what kind of church). of those 3 people how many of them just go because it's a habit. now they know everything about there religon backwards and forwards but they don't feel it in there hearts. I know a lot of people like that. In my humble opinion being a spirtual person is much more important then just being religous.
 
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ThePriestess is offline ThePriestess Post #7  June 22,2010, 8:28pm
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eHA_Admin_Lori wrote :
Do you agree that absence of an organized religion in ones life leaves them less likely to live in a highly moral way?
No, not at all ... and I would question the reasoning of those supporting this conclusion.
Last edited by ThePriestess; June 22,2010 at 8:31pm. Reason: Simply defining what is or is not moral/ethical is a difficult enough question ...
 
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Bob_dB is offline Bob_dB Post #8  August 3,2010, 12:14pm
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lol - see xkcd comic #774 LINK (and don't forget to mouse-hover)
 
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thatkerbygirl is offline thatkerbygirl Post #9  August 6,2010, 8:41pm
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I am a Christ-follower; however, I do not wish people to think of me being religious. To me, being religious means to be (act) legalistic, holier than thou art, and without relationship. The Pharisees and Saducees in the New Testament were very religious, and they made sure that everyone around them knew that fact.

To me, being spiritual is praising, praying to, and daily participating in a relationship with God.

I believe that some people have the ability to be both because each aspect is equally important to how he/she demonstrates their own faith. These people usually belong to a church whose own docturnal beliefs are demonstrated in a conservative manner.

With all this said, I do not belive there is any specific danger in being "spiritual and not religous" because neither can guarantee salvation. This is what I believe to be the more important issue; and really, only God can decide if our being more of one type is dangerous for our life or not.
 
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LoudMouth is offline LoudMouth Post #10  September 14,2010, 2:57pm
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No danger at all in my opinion. What people call themselves and the categories they list themselves under don't tell us much about the kind of person that they truly are.
 
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