What do you say to somebody who says they are not religious, they're spiritual. This is actually one of my, I mean, I don't want to call it a pet peeve because that sort of makes it a little petty.

Let's say it, let's say it this way. It's a, it's a serious concern that people say this and they mean it and it's got a lot of problems with it.

And so I think very well-meaning people say I'm not impugning their character or something like that, but there's a lot of issues associated with this.

So I thought a good way to evaluate the claim I'm spiritual not religious is to evaluate maybe some of the reasons that at least I think in my opinion, I could be wrong on some of this, but you know, my vibe is that these are the reasons the pros that people put out there for why they would go this route identify as spiritual but not religious.

So here are some pros and by the way, I did this when I was like in my teens, I remember saying this to somebody and I'll explain why I said it later, but but I remember saying this to somebody as I was witnessing or sharing with them about God or about Jesus about the Bible, and they said something something religion and I was like, well, I'm spiritual not religious, I'm talking about spirituality, not religion, and it was effective in the moment for helping like in that moment, it did help, but did it really help.

So let me, let me give through some of the pros. Why do people say this? Why do people think that their spiritual not religious? First, I think that they would say, and I'll give you, let me see, one, two, three, four, five, six pros, six pros for why I think people do this and why even Christians often do this and it's a very big mistake, but I'll explain why.

So number one, they'll think, hey, I got no strings to hold me down. I say I'm spiritual not religious because I've got no strings to hold me down. I don't have all these commitments that I'm making externally to whether it's God or Jesus or specific religious beliefs, you know, I've got no strings to hold me down.

I just get these spiritual sort of good vibes or good feeling that I'm spiritually healthy, just like the way exercise makes you physically healthy or eating well, I'm spiritually healthy because I said that.

So no strings. The second pro would be, and all of these have serious problems with them, it would be that people feel that they are open-minded by saying our spiritual not religious that they're actually very open-minded. I'm open to all truths, I'm not restricted to just one sort of religious set of beliefs, I'm open to anything, so they're very open-minded.

Also, there's no stigma, the third reason, there's no stigma attached to it, and this is a big one.

There's, you know, religion in general has a lot of negative stigma attached to inner culture, a whole lot of negative stigma attached to it in our culture, and it's just uncomfortable if people think that you are religious.

In fact, the word religious doesn't just mean somebody who has strong religious commitments and adheres to them, but rather it means like, ew, right, like you're religious, ew, you're kind of gross, like you're like, he's very religious.

Oh, don't invite him to that event or don't become his friend, don't date that guy. This is kind of the vibe.

So, you don't have that stigma, you can have very religious beliefs, but you're saying, I'm spiritual not religious, and it takes away some of that stigma.

The next reason, number four, would be there's no baggage. Now, a lot of religious groups, in particular, like Islam, baptists, I'm not saying this is the same thing, but they're not, but the other groups, like a Presbyterians or Catholic, or whatever, all these different groups,

they all have various baggage. People are familiar with the group identity, and whether that baggage is legit or not, it comes with baggage, right?

Like, there's people who will think negatively about the group, about you, because you associate with a group that they have these negative thoughts about.

And so, you remove that. I've got no baggage, if I say I'm spiritual, not religious, I'm just getting rid of that baggage.

Now, it's slight of hand, but this is what happens. Also, you can say, the next one is that you're always seeking. I'm always seeking. I'm a seeker.

And so, you feel very good about yourself. Like, I'm a seeker. I'm just seeking, for truths in every religion, truths in every location, so I'm actively pursuing, instead of having a dead sort of static religious set of things I believe, I'm continually seeking to grow and learn.

Neither of these things are reality, but this is the implication, right? This is the pro.

And the next one is that I embrace all spiritual leaders. This is often what I hear with somebody who says, I'm spiritual, not religious.

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