Spiritual, not religious
What do you think? I have come to believe that the statement commonly offered these days to the effect "I'm spiritual but not religious" may be a cop-out, one more sign that community is out and individualism is in. Sort of like:
I'm patriotic but let somebody else fight to protect my freedom.
I love my family but I rarely attend family gatherings.
I wear my team's uniform but I usually skip practices.
I want to live in a clean and safe neighborhood but I hate paying the taxes.
The "spiritual but not religious" expression might also be one way to say "Organized religion has been a source of pain and disappointment for me and I'm stepping away for a while or maybe forever." Or it might be a temporary phase on the way from "I" to "We" in personal development. I can understand these sentiments and developments. But there may be more to it.
Could it be that some baby boomers and/or their offspring are disconnected from the historical movements that brought them the good life they enjoy. I am thinking of the Church's promotion of the labor movement, and the Catholic social teaching that had a great deal to do with establishing humane working conditions and the benefits enjoyed by the majority of Americans. I am also thinking about the Martin Luther King Jr. and the gains made in the civil rights movement, again largely fueled by organized religion, by communities of faith doing together what alone or separately would never have been accomplished.
Individual spirituality cut off from a community of faith does not benefit from what only a social order can bring to it, namely, beliefs tempered by reason, moral values moderated by a shared wisdom and common human experiences.
Human beings are not islands unto themselves. We are social beings by nature. At some point in our spiritual journeys we will seek out others of like mind and find ourselves –imagine that – organized into a faith community.