I'm Spiritual but Not Religious

Six Paths to God

1) The Path of Belief: growing-up with beliefs and continuing to believe in God.

• Benefits: Faith may help you to see and explain your life and the world. It puts sufferings into a framework of meaning.
• Pitfalls: You may not understand non-believers and may tend to judge or come across to others as judgmental. You may become complacent— content with your childhood understandings of God.

2) The Path of Independence: deciding to leave the church but still believe in God.

• Benefits: You might see things in a fresh way. You speak freely and honestly.
• Pitfalls: Perfectionism; You may search for a perfect church, which is impossible.

3) The Path of Disbelief: choosing not to believe in God’s existence (atheism).

• Benefits: You don’t tend to take explanations about God for granted. You may have thought about God and life in different ways. You may care for others for different reasons. You may have a “religious-baloney detector” (sensing hypocrisy or lazy answers).
• Pitfalls: You may experience God but expect proof solely in an intellectual way.

4) The Path of Return: beginning life in a religious family, drifting away, and coming back.

• Benefits: You may see things differently and may be more committed. You may have more of a desire to learn and grow out of your childhood faith.
• Pitfalls: You may need to reeducate yourself to understand your faith in a mature way.

5) The Path of Exploration: being born in a religious family, who allows children to choose.

• Benefits: You may know other religions well and be enriched in your own faith as a result. You may appreciate your our own faith more because of your exploration.
• Pitfalls: You may have a tendency towards perfectionism (like the path of independence) in searching for a perfect religion, which is impossible. You might be putting God in your own “box.” You may waver in your commitment.

6) The Path of Confusion: being hot/cold with childhood faith; finding God is a mystery or problem.

• Benefits: You might be fine-tuning your approach to your childhood faith. You also may be refining your ideas about religious commitment.
• Pitfalls: Your confusion can lapse into laziness. You also may feel it takes too much work to build community, too much time to pray, or too much money to share.

I'm Spiritual but not Religious

Many people say to themselves, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” It’s also known as SBNR (spiritual but not religious. What does it mean? It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe the belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith.

SBNR often sees being “religious” as abiding by the arcane rules and conventional dogmas and being the tool of an oppressive institution that doesn’t allow you to think for yourself. Religion is narrow-minded and prejudicial—so goes the thinking—stifling the growth of the human spirit.

Or worse, religion is the most despicable of social evils, responsible for all the wars and conflicts around the world. Sadly, religion is responsible for many ills in the modern world and evils throughout history; among them: the persecution of Jews, endless wars of religion, the Inquisition, not to mention the religious intolerance and zealotry that leads to terrorism.