Comments on: Religion, what is it? Spirituality?

By: David Melik

David Melik — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:26:28 +0000

I think enough replies have said why people do not like religion–they reacted to it when they grew up. If I recall correctly (‘IIRC,’) the etymology of religion has something to do with reading. Then in a way it is has more to do with reading. If people knew more about what it meant maybe they would not make a such judgement about it; I just use it as a synonym for spirituality, Philosophy, mysticism, esoterism, magic, and (though I did not know it was about reading) mythology, mythography, etc…. they are all synonyms and people’s opinion of the rest probably widely vary.

By: cris@

cris@ — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:32:09 +0000

Thanks for this thought. Many christians most likely get rid of religion discussions because it always attracts divisions. Here in the Philippines that is very sensitive issue since we have at least 80 different religions. Our country is the most religious nation in the world. Instead, we call us christians because it sounds neutral.And it is really fit because the disciples was tagged as christians after Christ resurrection. Besides, religion is just a man’s ingenious invention. It was not made in heaven. What was made by God is relationship. Thus, christians should have a better human relationship than non-christians, otherwise they are the whole christianity in shame. A true religion is in the hearts of every man. Love your neighboors as you love yourself. Kindness, Action, Virtues and Character. My previous mentor from kamja has something to tell on this subject.

By: Spirituele deugden / waarden / normen: perspectief op alternatieve spiritualiteit | Overpeinzende

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:44:25 +0000

[...] Hoe dan ook in reactie op mijn stukje over religie versus spiritualiteit (op mijn Engelse weblog) hoorde ik vooral dat men religie ervaart als te veel ‘doe dit, doe dit niet’. Te dwingend dus – en de dreiging van de Hel is gewoon niet geloofwaardig meer. Zoals ik daar al aangaf is dit een verwijt aan heel specifieke vormen van religie: voornamelijk conservatief protestantse varianten van het Christendom. [...]

By: Metaphysical Junkie

Metaphysical Junkie — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:05:36 +0000

As a child I was never taught or pressured into any religious beliefs by my relatives, but I did go to church with my friends on Sunday mornings if I happened to stay over on a Saturday night. What turned me off to religion during those experiences?

Church was painfully BORING.

There were too many rules and not enough explanations for those rules. “Do this, don’t do that.” “Well, why not?” “Because it’s wrong and God will get mad.”

Very little of anything made sense to me. For example, God loves us but will throw us in fire if we don’t live up to His expectations. A childhood friend of mine used to tell me how she would stay up all night overwhelmed with worry because she was afraid of going to hell. Shouldn’t religion support well-being instead of causing panic attacks?

Yes, I used to be very resentful toward the Christian religion for trying to feed me a very warped and manipulative spiritual teaching. But I’ve been over it for a long time now and have been blessed to find spiritual teachings of love in the form of books, people, and experiences. So while I now don’t count as someone who hates the word religion, I can understand why there are many people out there who do.

By: Boshemia

Boshemia — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:02:03 +0000

I think a lot of us came from religious backgrounds or had a bad religious experience, and we just got a bad taste in our mouth. There were so many rules, so much to live up to, never really did fit in, shoved down our throats. Personally I do feel like a very spiritual person, but religion gives me nightmares. Do this, don’t do that, oops you sinned, go straight to hell, do not pass go do not collect $200.

By: Jan-Peter Kuiper

Jan-Peter Kuiper — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:42:52 +0000

Nicely put! However i do think there is a differnece between (organised) religion and religiousness. Many spiritual people do have religious feellings but don’t care to belong to any organisation. In this i agree with you that this goes mainly for christian organisation, and in a lesser degree for organisations with a christian “heritage”.
To answer the question what religion is I think you have to differentiat between organised religion (like churches, etc.) and the feeling of religiousness. Might this be a topic for a new post?