What does “Spiritual but not religious” really mean?
The increasing number of people who describe themselves “spiritual but not religious” poses a problem for the church because such people tend to stay away from organised religious institutions and activities. But what does it really mean to say one is “spiritual but not religious”?
After interviewing many American SBNRs (spiritual but not religious), theology professor Dr Linda Mercadante finds that they tend to hold stereotypical—and generally false—views of Christianity and the church.
“I heard the same arguments over and over again,” said Mercadante, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), according to the Presbyterian News Service.
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“I don’t know where this script comes from – no one knows any real churches that fit this profile or stereotype,” she said, according to the denomination’s news service.Some of the stereotypes SBNRs listed include churches’ claim to “exclusive truthfulness – that they have a corner on the truth market;” churches demanding that personal beliefs be abdicated; churches demanding conformity to a “corporate mentality;” and churches professing arbitrary or implausible beliefs, among others.
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Based on her findings, which she plans to publish in book, Mercadante concluded, “I think it’s clear that much of the problem organized religion faces today is not really the church’s fault.
Another factor in the growing prevalence of SBNRs is that subscribing to a religion, let alone joining a church, requires a commitment, and contemporary Westerners mostly avoid that sort of thing.