Whats the difference between being spiritual and religious?

Question

I just read a question about athiests being spiritual; and got to thinking.
What is the difference between the two?
Can you be one without the other?
Can you be both?

Answer 1

I see spiritual as having ethics, morals and following your conscience. Wishing well on others, keeping your body healthy as well as caring for others and your environment. Respecting all mankind. Spiritual is being open to positive energy and ideals with the ability to change when enlightened.
I see religious as having an affiliation to an organized group who believe in a structured dogma and are not supposed to stray from this dogma. The dogma is the key to belonging in the religious group.

Answer 2

I define 'spiritual' as such:

Spirituality is an awareness of one's relationship to the universe, including an understanding of the symbols in which the story of one's life is told, and the influence one's life has on the understanding of those symbols.

Religion is, according to anthropology, a combination of two things: a myth (a story, true or not, that interrelates man, nature, and the divine) and a moral code (usually based on the foundational myth). A religious person is one who finds meaningful expression in their myth and moral code, and lives by them.

It is possible to be both, but one does not of necessity lead to the other.

Answer 3

Spiritual is a personal sense of harmony with God or life.

To be Religious is to adopt the practices of Your faith. In other words using many outward signs that can help your heart stay focused on your beliefs.

Jesus never condemned Tradition. In fact He kept many traditions RELIGIOUSLY! He did not want us to think that our salvation comes from keeping traditions.

Jesus was circumcised, had a Bar Mitzvah, Was dedicated at the temple, kept Passover etc.

Unfortunately, the lack of religious principles and teaching for many Christians, accounts for the huge inconsistencies in behavior and maturity in Christians.

Many of the questions here in YA are brought on by the kind of Christians who put independence above The Bible.

The Bible puts the highest importance on Obedience to God and Unity in the body of Christ.

Answer 4

Being spiritual as you put it means you have a relationship with God, like a parent to a child. Being religous means you go through the motions but don't live all that your taught. I know I am close to God in a spiritual sense. I mean my relationship is that he tells me how to live and I live that way. I know he knows what is good for me.

Answer 5

If you are spiritual you have your own firm beliefs and ideas. Religious people belong to a church. I believe that being spiritual is more KNOWING. Sorry if that's confusing.

Answer 6

Anybody can be "religious." But not all can be spiritual. To be spiritual one must have the Holy Spirit of God within him/her. They must be 'born again' as Jesus said.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=3&verse=3&version=31&context=verse

Because sin entered all of the human race through Adam and Eve, all died spiritually - meaning - all lost the spirit-to-Spirit connection to God who is Spirit. But the good news of Christianity is that through faith in Christ, all can be reconnected and restored to a living relationship with the One and Only Living God who is love. And they can be restored because God wants them restored. He wants that relationship.

But many for whatever reason, have decided to just try and "be good" by doing religious deeds in hopes that by being religious, it'll be enough to enter heaven when they die. They also want to appease their guilty consciences. But according to God's standards it is NEVER enough. ONLY the pure blood of the Son of God can redeem man and cause him to be reconnected w/God and receive an inner life that is so strong it never dies.

Answer 7

Being spiritual--you feel a connection with something greater

Being religious--you follow manmade superstitions as if it was spiritual

Answer 8

Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived eternal verities regarding humankind's ultimate nature, often contrasts with the temporal, with the material, or with the worldly. A sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to something "greater" than oneself, which includes an emotional experience of religious awe and reverence. Equally importantly, spirituality relates to matters of sanity and of psychological health. Like some forms of religion, spirituality often focuses on personal experience (see mysticism).

Spirituality may involve perceiving or wishing to perceive life as more important ("higher"), more complex or more integrated with one's world view; as contrasted with the merely sensual.

Many spiritual traditions, accordingly, share a common spiritual theme: the "path", "work", practice, or tradition of perceiving and internalizing one's "true" nature and relationship to the rest of existence (God, creation (the universe), or life), and of becoming free of the lesser egoic self (or ego) in favor of being more fully one's "true" "Self".


Religiosity in its broadest sense is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief (religious doctrine). Another term that would work equally well, though is less often used, is religiousness. In its narrowest sense, religiosity deals more with how religious a person is, and less with how a person is religious (in terms of practicing certain rituals, retelling certain myths, revering certain symbols, or accepting certain doctrines about deities and afterlife). Numerous studies have explored the different components of human religiosity (Hill and Hood 1999; Brink, 1993). What most have found is that there are multiple dimensions (they often employ factor analysis). For instance, Cornwall, Albrecht, Cunningham and Pitcher (1986) identify six dimensions of religiosity based on the understanding that there are at least three components to religious behavior: knowing (cognition), feeling (affect), and doing (behavior). For each of these components of religiosity there were two cross classifications resulting in the six dimensions:

Cognition
traditional orthodoxy
particularistic orthodoxy
Affect
spiritual
church commitment
physical
Behavior
religious behavior
religious participation
Other researchers have found different dimensions, ranging generally from four to twelve components. What most measures of religiosity find is that there is at least some distinction between religious doctrine, religious practice, and spirituality.

For example, one can accept the truthfulness of the Bible (belief dimension), but never attend a church or even belong to an organized religion (practice dimension). Another example might be an individual who does not hold orthodox Christian doctrines (belief dimension), but does attend a charismatic worship service (practice dimension) in order to develop his/her sense of oneness with the divine (spirituality dimension). Also, certain ritualistic activities can have an implied religiosity, such as Neurolinguistic programming, which is seen as associated with New Age religions (Hunt 2003:195).

An individual could disavow all doctrines associated with organized religions (belief dimension), not affiliate with an organized religion or attend religious services (practice dimension), but be strongly committed to a higher power and feel that the connection with that higher power is ultimately relevant (spirituality dimension). These are explanatory examples of the broadest dimensions of religiosity and that they may not be reflected in specific religiosity measures.

Most dimensions of religiosity are correlated, meaning people who often attend church services (practice dimension) are also likely to score highly on the belief and spirituality dimensions. But individuals do not have to score high on all dimensions or low on all dimensions; their scores can vary by dimension.

Answer 9

religion is mainly tradition;Jesus condemed tradition.