"I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" to sum up the view of many today. Spirituality is our response to the vacuity of the materialism and secularism of modern society. There is a growing interest in religion and a growing response for spiritual nourishment.
Earlier in the year there was a fascinating series of programmes on television called THE MONASTERY - when five young men lived in a community of Benedictine monks for five weeks. The great thing about the whole experience was that it wasn't just a vague "spiritual" experience but that it was rooted and anchored in one of the world's great religions expressed in the rich Benedictine tradition, which has been around for the past one and a half millennia.
One of the reasons why we struggle with religious belief is that we have inherited a rich Christian culture and have often taken this heritage for granted. Unlike the Christians of the Early Church we haven't, until now, had to wrestle and struggle - intellectually, spiritually and socially to make sense of what it means to be a Christian in a society, which is not steeped in Christianity.
Atheists often attack religion as the source of much friction and violence in God's world. However, Atheistic systems in Soviet Russia and Communist China in the last century were responsible for the deaths of millions under their soulless, Godless regimes. Atheistic Uncle Joe Stalin and Atheistic Chairman Mao, The Great Helmsman - were certainly not as white as the driven snow.
Any pursuit of personal enlightenment, which neglects the two great commands of Christ to Love God and Love one's neighbour - is an arid path.
Britain's chief Rabbi illustrates this point with a story that I heard many years ago during a pilgrimage to the Sea of Galilee:-
"There are two seas in Israel; the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The latter is full of life; fish, birds, vegetation. The former contains no life at all. Yet they are both fed by the same river, the Jordan. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee receives water at one end and gives out water at the other. The Dead Sea receives but does not give. The Jordan ends there. To receive without reciprocating is a kind of death. To live is to give."
Being simply "spiritual" is a woolly response - ultimately it is both shallow and unfulfilling, because it is not rooted and anchored in a coherent, overarching framework which religion provides. Spirituality divorced from Religion fails to confront and provide answers to the big questions of life like -Who we are and Why we exist?
Spirituality without Religion fails to meet our deepest longings. The choice is ours.
With Every Blessing in the Quest,
FATHER DAVID