When I asked the readers who identified as spiritual, but were not religious for not being religious, I was surprised that how much diversity was in the trust experiences of individuals in this group. Some said that they got spirituality in the beauty of the physical world and in both communal with others.
“I found a 12-step program that was like a spirituality for me,” a woman named Maggi who lives in the Northeast. (I am not using her last name because one of her 12-phase program principles is oblivion.) “This is about having a relationship with a high power. It is better than prayer and attention Trying to make, “he said.
Maggi lost his taste for organized religion, he said, the way his church handled a situation in which a minister had a relationship with an employee. He finds the 12-step program to be free from that kind of hypocrisy and appreciates the “bone-scrapping honesty” of his fellow group members. People talk about “what is really going in their lives”. “It is refreshed and often reliable, and it feeds me.”
As I read and heard the wide range of spiritual stories shared with me in the last few weeks, I thought of the method that describes nothing in atheists, agnostists and particular – which empties and emptiness and Almost describes A. Like nihilism.
“Enough weight for the new feelings of faith. Instead of seeing this moment as depicting the slow demise of organized religion in America, what makes some people separate from the community and meaning, it is worth asking if we The dirty new era of spirituality is in the midst of the birth.
First of all, I want to be honest that I am not able to give a certain answer through data here. Voting around the questions of spirituality is very noise, because the words “spiritual” and “religious” are so unsafe and they are very highly overlap, “Robert Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University and” Spirituality but “author Robert Fuller Said. Not religious: Understanding Unwanted America, ”when we talked last week.
It is also important to note that spiritual beliefs have been part of American belief since early days of colonies. “The colonial American was particularly generous when it came to his beliefs about supernatural,” writes Fuller. “While less than one in five belonged to a church, most of the membership of unwanted religious beliefs, including astrology, numbers science, magic and witchcraft, took membership of a potpaori.” (And indigenous people of North America had their own belief system which vary from nation to nation.)
When you become granular about what you believe today, specific beliefs do not always track very neatly with the labels that people use for themselves. As I wrote in a series about Nons in a series last year, many people who identify especially as no religion, still go to the church and still believe in a high power.
Pew research tried to improve the overall decrease of good data on spirituality with a major report in December. The Pew admits that this is a difficult subject because it is a difficult subject because the definitions of spirituality are on all maps: although the presence of the church definitely declined and formal religion is important for many less Americans, “this is evidence Is that ‘religion’ is a creature Replaced ‘Spirituality’ is very weak, partly due to the difficulty of defining and separating those concepts. ,
He said, Pew’s survey found that “22 percent of us fall under the category of adult spiritual but No Religious. “Pu found that some things that most SBNR believe that” people have a soul or soul other than their physical body “and” beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it. . “They also like to believe that elements of animals and nature such as rivers and trees can be” souls “or” spiritual energy “.
In his book, which was published in 2001, Fuller described SBNRS as a “seeker”, often “see his life as a spiritual journey, creating new discoveries and new on a daily basis Hope to achieve insight. Religion is not a certain thing for them.
Even at that time, Fuller wrote that “unwanted spirituality” “gradually shaping the personal belief of many people who belong to the mainstream religious organizations.” And I will argue that such a spiritual influence has increased.
While according to the 2023 Associated Press/NORC Pol, organized religion has declined in confidence and rearing, 63 percent believe in American adult deeds, 50 percent believe that “those who died, their souls of those who died Can interact with, “” 42 percent believes “spiritual energy can be inherent in material objects,” 34 percent believe in astrology and rebirth, and 33 percent yoga as “as a spiritual practice” “Believe it.
There are people who have been afraid of being left behind by the organized religion that they insist that the world would be a better place if more people were forced to be like them. You see the fruits of this nervousness everywhere: in the new law of Louisiana, which requires posting ten commandments in all classes, and in the version of Oklahoma State Superintendent that the Bible should be taught in all public schools.
But another, more vague anxiety I have heard-and express myself-this is a clear way to find meaning out of itself and create a community out of itself, and that without being designed for some people It can be difficult for some designed people. The structure provides existing churches, temples and mosques.
The reporting of this piece has changed my thinking to some extent, as I am focusing on the decline: to empty the church buildings with my frightening exterior and cold, empty puzz. Instead, what we are seeing is something else, which is very new and actually spread to track or to understand properly.
Many spiritual communities are formed online, which means that they are even more difficult to list. Linda Seriello, assistant professor at Religious Studies at Kenesa State University, said, “There is so far about affiliation with SBNR or Nons, which is difficult to know where to start.” “This type of groups had great speed before epidemic, but that situation strengthened their presence and utility for so many people.” He made me clear that we will not know the entire size of change until this period is in rearview.
Nevertheless, I had the most hearing from Indiana -based hospital Chaplin Brent Wright, which also believes that we are in some kind of transitional period. When we talked, he said, “Those of us who are living right in the put of this innings, they bear the burden of cultural beliefs that we came before us that we are breaking out, but then affecting uncertainty. Are. Does this mean? “
He talked about the intensive, parlokic spiritual relationship with the patients through his work. “I can see in their eyes and they look back and look back and whatever we interact, whatever is the material on the surface of the words, there is a spiritual relationship,” he said. “There is an solidarity and ality that is deeply inherent in the fact that we are both humans and we are now here and care about me.” I can’t think of more deeper, more meaningful experience than that.
