How are spirituality and religion similar? How are they different? Can you have one without the other?

Answer 1

Spirituality = internal
Religion = external

Yes, you can be spiritual without being "religious." And anyone can be religious without being spiritual (i.e., GW Bush).

Answer 2

Spirituality and Religion are similar in a way because they lead us to Truth.We learn the highest ideals a human being supposed to have.Religion cannot exist without spirituality but Spirituality exists independently.We can be spiritual without depending on religion.True Religion coexists with spirituality.

Answer 3

They are both ways of viewing matters of the spirit. Spirituality is a belief in the spiritual. Religion is an organized social movement that also promotes a particular belief in the spiritual. You can have spirituality without having an organized religion. You cannot have an organized religion that without some kind of spiritual view.

Answer 4

Spirituality is interior. Religion is exterior. You can have one or the other, or both.

Spirituality is an inner sense of that which is beyond immediate knowing. Religion is a specific set of concrete beliefs and actions.

Personally, I value spirituality more than religion. When you explore the great questions using your own intuition, you are free to adjust your beliefs and actions according to the answers you receive.

But when your main focus is religious dogma and your spiritual understanding conflicts with that dogma, you feel torn. You can either force your spiritual beliefs to change to fit the religion (a process that can cause terrible pain and erase your self-trust) or you can abandon the religion and seek another (difficult for many people).

This is why I am a very strong advocate of discovering your beliefs FIRST, and THEN finding the religion that best matches. Ideally this process should begin in childhood, in a supportive and relatively unbiased environment, so the person's natural intuition can guide them to the beliefs that truly make sense to them.

Answer 5

Spirituality and religion are two different things, which have
the same origin.Just as a branch and a leave ,are two different things,
but have the same origin,the tree.

Spirituality is about who we are,
we are eternal spiritual beings,parts and parcels of God.

Religion is about what we(spirit souls) do,our nature,
we are eternal lovers of God.

So both spirituality and Religion originates from God.

Spirituality our essence ,and religion is our duty.
Just as the duty of sugar is to be sweet or the nature of
the sun is to give heat and light, our duty is to love God.
Sugar that is not sweet is not sugar,similarly spirituality
without religion is an incompatible situation.

A spiritual being in harmony with his religion, feel deeply
satisfied .Spirituality without religion is as sugar that is not
sweet ,or a sun that gives not heat or light.So any spiritualist
that does not follow his duty ,religion, experienced frustration
and disastisfacton, time after time


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HighestLove/

servant of the highest love
errol

Answer 6

I think you can have spirituality without being a part of an organized religion definitely, but I think it'd be a little hard to have a religion and no spirituality, well not hard, you just wouldn't be a true believer in said religion.

Answer 7

Spirituality is the belief in something beyond oneself. Religion is the structure that accrues when the belief gets codified, rules get made up, and some people set themselves up as more 'advanced' or 'holy' or whatever, claiming that now you can only get the spirituality by following their rules and, usually, giving them money.

Spirituality is something you can do on your own; religion requires a rule book that usually slops over very quickly into areas that have very little to do with spirituality but a lot to do with controlling others' behavior for the profit of an individual or group.

Answer 8

Well, i dont really know how they are similar because i think that they are very different you see, religion is mans idea of what GOD or a spiritual lifestyle is, white spirituality has to do with who we really are. Man is really a spirit, and so it has everything to with who we are what are doing in this body what is our purpose etc. Honestly i really think GOD has nothing to do with religion because hes really trying to reach our spirits rather than to involve Himself in which religion is going to heaven catholic or baptist. That is why i think that religion and spirituality differs. Ps There can be one without the other if we can be delivered from religion and embrace relationship with GOD.

Answer 9

Spirituality is the mother of religion. Spirituality is being open, religion usually means holding on to dogma that you must believe. Yes you can have one without the other.

Answer 10

Spirituality is open & all embracing.

Religion is potentially less so.

If your church is restricted by geography, nationality, ethnicity, education, language... the circumstantial; then it is probably (organised) religion.

They are similar, in that the one can be used as a means to attain the other.

It's like the general & the specific.

The spirit & the letter.

I think once one's got to the end of one's path, one would probably be more reclusive & less dependent on the officialities of organised religion, although maybe grateful to it.

Good question. What do you think?

Answer 11

Religion and spirituality are two different sides of the spectrum.....

Religion is confusion as there are many many kinds of it in many "ways"... but none wholly agree, but that there is one thing greater than one's self......

Spirituality, on the other spectrum, allows the mind and body to correlate on a higher level of understanding.... It by passes the "face value" of all things seen, and sees the esoteric nature of the things before the soul........

They can go hand in hand, to one who seeks a greater understanding than what is being portrayed in the world.... But, it requires patience, because the "big picture of reason, does not come into focus, but a piece at a time......

and yes.... you can certainly have one without the other... True understanding leaves behind the means of religion.....

**Christ never called himself a Christian, but the Son of the Living God..... Those who follow in his footsteps, are Christian in like-manner........


Your sister,
Ginger