Citizen Columns

Citizen Columns >> Answer (October 13th, 2007)

Question

What do you make of people who say they are spiritual but not religious?

Answer

First, first there are lots of questions to ask to find out more about how they understand religion and spirituality. What has been their experience of both? And why do they need to separate the two? Why is it either/or? Their stance might reflect a genuinely high-minded spiritual quest, but it could also mask low-brow prejudice.

Jesus met a lot of people disillusioned with religion. Religion, as they experienced it, may not have fed their inward journey or may have brushed them aside as unworthy. Jesus told his disciples to "feed my sheep". If that's not happening, we shouldn't be surprised that people look elsewhere.

But if the non-religious "spiritual" person assumes that religion can't also be spiritual, who are they to judge what is in someone's heart, any more than I can judge what is in theirs? Most religious people I know are trying to connect all the dots in their day to day existence. Their religious practices—prayer, worship, scripture reading, fasting, charitable giving and service—helps shape their way of life around their spirituality. Indeed, Christianity's earliest name was "the Way" to emphasise this.

We all get to the moment of our death in different ways, but God will judge all of us by how we used the time we were given. Jesus said, " you will know the tree by its fruit." God won't ask about our religion or our spirituality, but he will want to know what fruit we produced before we took our last breath. What love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control did our life exhibit? These are the true "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22). The same question will be put to everyone: the religious, the "spiritual", the secular, the atheist. All religions, spiritualities and philosophies need to be assessed on that basis, it seems to me.

Father John Jillions