WHAT IS “SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS”?

[neptunesdolphins]

 For modern Polytheists, the concept of “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) needs to be examined. Many problems that modern Polytheists often encounter are from people who are SBNR. These issues range from expressions of piety to sacrifices to the Gods.

 

In “Spirituality Without Structure,” Nimue Brown, Druid author, writes “Religion is the means by which countless lives have been harnessed, saddled, and sent forth to suit a private or political agenda.” She continues, “I’m too anarchic too opposed to authority and oppression.” Her version of religion is shared by many. It is also an underlying assumption by SBNR people encountering Polytheist practices.

 

In her book, Brown explains the differences between spirituality as experienced by the individual, and religion as a formal system. She states that Atheists and people of conventual faith can “lend themselves to a genuine spiritual outlook.” This separation of religion from spirituality enables people to be “spiritual but not religious.”

 

What does that mean – spiritual but not religious? This contemporary idea refers to the sacred interior life of a person, who does not belong to a religious organization. Another term for this could be “non-ritual personal faith.” According to Rev. Linda Mercadante, religious scholar, SBNR people are usually anti-institutional and private in their beliefs. She separates them into several categories. The dissenter dislikes institutional religion. The casual believer prefers therapeutic spirituality such as New Age practices. The explorer is a spiritual tourist. The seeker is searching for a new religious identity. Finally, the immigrant has joined a new spiritual community.

 

Rev. Mercadante, in her studies, said that today, religion is thought of as a social construct, and spirituality is the interior life. She says that in prior times, spirituality was considered the same as piety. For this reason, spirituality and piety overlap in modern society in a confusing manner, although modern people think of piety in terms of “annoying church ladies.”

 

In “Spirituality Without Structure,” Brown describes a spiritual experience as giving a person “a feeling of profound connection with something beyond themselves. That something doesn’t have to be a god. It could be a place, a person, tradition, or an idea.” This fits in with my working definition of spirituality as the awareness of a person of something beyond themselves. Meanwhile, religion is the response to that something.

 

Rev. Mercadante writes in “Belief Without Borders,” that SBNRs and Atheists agree that spirituality is a “this-worldly reality, often conflated with … mental health or emotional well-being.” She says that spirituality is portrayed as “a personal, individual, and heart-felt state that is easily divorced from organized religion.” She observes what Nimue Brown expresses as the standard view of religion – external, organized, dogmatized, and group oriented,” in SBNR people.

 

This presents something for modern Polytheists to ponder. As more people leave Neo-Paganism to become Polytheists, they often carry this idea of religion with them. Since many modern Polytheists are immigrants to Polytheism, I believe that the first step is to remember when we first entered the country known as Polytheism.

 

Further Reading:

 

Alain de Botton, “Religion for Atheists.”

Nimue Brown, “Spirituality Without Structure.”

Edward Butler, “The Way of the Gods”

John Michael Greer, “A World Full of Gods.”

Rev. Linda Mercadante, “Belief Without Borders.”