Religious symbols, excludes science as not the same[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Are Americans especially religious? Many people respond they are more spiritual than religious. What might be the difference and why do some people separate religion from spirituality?
The group called the Millenials, which are those young people coming of age after the turn of the 21st century, are less religious than their parents, according to research results from the Pew forum. On the other hand, many of these same young people have shared values with reference to having a belief in God and valuing prayer in their daily lives. In those ways, they resemble individuals from previous decades, including their parents.
Despite having spiritual values associated with belief in a Supreme Being, 1 in 4 young adults do not have a specific religious affiliation and actually consider themselves “agnostic” or “atheist” in their views.
Results of various surveys indicate most people will express themselves as spiritual as opposed to identifying with a particular religion. Belief has increased portability, as more and more people move from group to group, taking their basic belief in God and prayer with them. That may be the reason why many groups claim to be one of the fastest growing religions in the world, including Hinduism, Buddhism as well as non-believers, as people join a group, then may move elsewhere to actually swell the numbers in both places where affiliation had been made.
Many people separate the institution of religion from spirituality. The connectedness to “spirit” is often identified as belief in loving one another or recognizing the special nature of man as a special being that has evolved in some way. Americans underline a difference between being religious and being spiritual. Atheists and agnostics, for example, claim not to be religious but say they are spiritual.
Robert Fuller tells us, “The word spiritual gradually came to be associated with a private realm of thought and experience while the word religious came to be connected with the public realm of membership in religious institutions, participation in formal rituals, and adherence to official denominational doctrines.”
These different views are a fairly modern phenomenon, as folks used to consider being spiritual and being religious much the same with the unifying feature a belief in a Supreme Being. That no longer is the case, however, as people distinguish themselves as being either or both. Nevertheless, despite these differences, most people adhere to either category and fewer consider themselves having no belief system at all.