Conflicts Between Spirituality And Religion

As Theologian Eugene Peterson noted, "Religion is thefoundation on a five-year-old's perceptions.
most dangerous energy source known to mankind.In the Christian and Jewish religions, basic beliefs are
The moment a person is convinced that God is eitherbased on the Bible or Talmud and their interpretation
ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anythingby theologians, and then pastor, priest and rabbi and
goes. The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate,then transmitted to us. In Islamic culture, belief is
killing and oppression is staggering." [The Message,based on the Qu'ran. For the Hindus, the Upanishads,
NAV Press] There is plenty of evidence in our historyetc. This means that for religious adherents our
books and our newspapers for this belief. Andbeliefs are based upon scriptures, as interpreted by
likewise, religious beliefs are a source of much clutterhumans and then understood by humans. To which
in our lives, even if have we never belonged to anywe add our fears, hurts, doubts and disappointments
organized religion. A huge amount of emotional- all of our clutter - to the mix of our understanding.
baggage, here called clutter, comes along withAnd then we hold our beliefs as the truth. It is no
churches, religion and God. And it is the nature ofwonder that we have so many differing churches all
human beings to collect clutter.believing that their specific religion holds the
I'd like to make a distinction between spirituality andunequivocal truth.
religion. Religion is generally accepted as a specific setIn God Calling there is this admonition: "All down the
of beliefs and practices, and the body of personsages, men have been to eager to say what they
adhering to such. For the most part religion is basedthought about My truth, and so doing, they have
on beliefs and we human beings often have somegrievously erred. Hear Me. Talk to Me. Reflect Me. Do
really bizarre belief systems. Elizabeth Smart'snot say what you think about Me. My words need
kidnappers believed they were doing God's will andnone of man's explanation. I can explain to each
were walking freely around Salt Lake with Elizabeth,heart." [Russel, ed. Jove Books]
sometimes only a few blocks from her home,Spirituality is more dynamic than theology. It's about
unrecognized for nine months, because residentsrelationship with ourselves, with the divine and with
didn't believe that it could be she in that locale. Thelife. A spiritual person may or may not belong to a
Columbine killers believed, to put it simply, that theyreligion. According to the 1990 American Religious
deserved attention and consequently got it throughIdentification Survey, there were 14 million people in
the massacre of their fellow studentsthe United States who identified themselves as not
Where do we get our beliefs? Generally, we getbelonging to a specific religion in 1990. In 2001 that
them through our interactions with our family, peers,figure was 29 million, making it the fastest growing
environment and culture, including the media. Basedand the third largest category behind Catholics and
on those interactions, we make decisions, and thoseBaptists. [Deseret News, 2/1/2003, B1,2] As well as a
decisions form the basis of our beliefs. Depending onmyriad of other suppositions, you might surmise from
how we make decisions, that process can cause usthis statistic that people have a growing
problems. Most of our core beliefs are formed by thedissatisfaction with their interactions with organized
age of five, when we have limited knowledge andreligion, and rather than having a vehicle available to
experience. And although we may form additionaldeal with their dissatisfactions, their accumulated
survival strategies later, most of us have built ourclutter, have simply chosen to leave the church.