Can Christians NOT Be Religious?

The words religion and religious might as well be curse words; heavy, black and tarred by modernity, non-believers and Christians alike. By claiming to be religious a person might as well have the following words tattooed on their forehead: old-fashioned, stodgy, I heart rules. Rarely do you hear anybody say heartily and with confidence, “Yes! I am religious!” More likely the affirmation is masked by a cough and a quick change in conversation. The with it! thing to say today is “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Everybody can say this and get a general approval from their audience. Whether you’re agnostic, Jewish, pagan or Christian this is a full proof phrase. As a fellow Christian to the Christian professing a non-religious spiritual Christianity I would like to propose a challenge that in fact one cannot be a Christian and not be religious in the true sense of the word.

Here is a little reflection on the matter through a conversation that never happened but I hope will more often:

An agnostic majoring in Religious Studies (go figure) readily proclaims that he is “spiritual, but not religious” and his Christian friend exclaims, “So am I! Let me continue to explain about Jesus and the life he brings without ever using the word religion.” The very sound of the word shoots a chill down the spine of the well-meaning Christian.

Mr. Agnostic (but open to all this religion business) continues the conversation by saying, “But you baptize people. Isn’t that a ritual, an outward sign of your devotion to a specific entity hence a religion?”

“No of course not, it is infused with the heart and the true life of God. Only empty ritual is religion.”

“Actually, that is not the definition of religion”

“But my life as a Christian isn’t empty, it is in fact beyond religion it is the truth!”

“Again, that is not the definition of religion.”

“What pray tell are you talking about?”

“ “Ere goes one definition from Dictionary.com. Ahem: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”

“Errr…”

“Lets run through this shall we?”

“Okay…”

“Do you adhere to a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies?”

“Yes, Jesus is our savior, God is three in one, etc.”

“Do these beliefs lead you to devotional or ritual observances?”

“Um, do going to church on Sundays and baptizing people count?”

“Yes and yes. Lets move on. Does your Christian faith contain a moral code that governs the conduct of your human affairs? “

“Thou shall love God above all others and your neighbor as yourself. I guess that’s a moral code.”

“Absolutely. You checked yes on all of these points. I think in fact what you are trying to say is that your religion isn’t empty and that it is in fact the true religion. Just because you associate the word “religion” with religious hypocrites you shouldn’t accept the denigration of the word, even if by saying so you up your credulity with non-believers. You should in fact begin a conversation by speaking about how unfortunate it is that so many Christians see their faith as a list of boxes to check off and then proceed to talk about the beauty of the religion. You can in fact use the word faith to make the conversation more comfortable but to gain favor on your part by dividing “spiritual” Christians vs. religious Christians is madness. Try speaking of the “empty” religion of St. Augustine or St. Francis. Good Luck.”

“Cool. Nobody’s ever taking me up on that. Thanks Agnostico!”

This made up agnostic majoring in Religious Studies is my hero. I bet he’ll end up Roman Catholic someday! But all comedy aside I cannot tell you how often I hear the “spiritual, but not religious” thing from Christians of all circles. It is a very popular phrase now a days, but it is NEW and MODERN, coming not from within the Church but from outside the Church.

Christians proclaim a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus gives us love and grace and we in turn respond in worship and in striving to live the life of love he has called us to. Christians are called to respond, to be religious. Even further than that we are called to be religious as a community.

My good priest friend put it this way: Things spiritual are gifts from God to us. Things religious are our response through community to the love of God.

Now Christians may differ on what is a correct religious response, but let’s put to death the myth that you can be Christian but not religious.

It is by individual example that the faith is edified or tarnished. Instead of pointing fingers at those who act but do not love let us first meditate upon our own hypocrisies and how we give Christianity a bad name. I understand that the word religion does not help illustrate the Majesty and Glory of the Faith because of its associations, but if people see us being transformed by religious actions that we no longer deny to be religious, religion will begin to fill up in eyes of the world; no longer empty but a cup meant to be drunk; a divine intoxication to be coveted. And wouldn’t that be a great thing.

~

Fabiola Garza is a concept artist, illustrator and blogger. Find out more about her work @ Catholic Colors

Fabiola Garza

Fabiola Garza

Hi! My name is Fabiola and I draw for a living. My fun-tastic website is http://www.CatholicColors.com.

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5 thoughts on “Can Christians NOT Be Religious?”

  1. You are too funny!! You make a great point. I have definitely tried to steer away from the “religious” label because of its baggage with the secular world. My intentions were good, but it didn’t help spread Jesus’ message!

    Strong conclusion!

  2. This was well done! Although don’t make fun of the irreligious who are majoring in religious studies – I very much wanted to be one of them! Alas, I realized that an atheist majoring in something regarding religion probably didn’t equate to a job after graduating. ^_~ Also, love this quote “Things spiritual are gifts from God to us. Things religious are our response through community to the love of God.”

  3. So this one time, my husband and I were “evangelized” after a baseball game. The man and woman were so nice, and really my husband wants to check out their church sometime. Anyway, after the brief introductions and small talk, the woman asks “So, are you spiritual?” We were kind of taken aback and giggled about it later, but really it was the safest question for her to ask, since we very well could have been zen buddhists or something. However, we can’t stand the “spiritual but not religious” phrase. It’s so empty. What does that even mean? Nothing!

  4. I think this is an easier concept to contemplate with the realization that everyone has a religion, that is, a way of life that proceeds from their beliefs and values and carries with it some daily and weekly ritual observances.

    It also reminds me of the Native American story of the two wolves that pursue every soul, one good and one bad, and the one that will win is the one your soul feeds.

    I put these images together to hopefulyl reveal that every man worships something, but not every man worships God. The true religion is the man who conforms his behavior to what God desires, something we can never accomplish, but this is in its closest approximation in those who profess the Catholic faith, for Jesus Christ is the union of God and man, and gave us clear instructions on how to live a way of life that proceeds from God’s beliefs and values and carries with it daily and weekly ritual observances that profess our faith in God and seek only Him as the goal.

    In a sense, if we feed a false religion, it will win; if we feed a true religion, and give our soul Christ, He will win. But to think that one can reach God without religion, this is not only heresy, but a logical fallacy.

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