What Took Spirituality Out of Religion

I was listening to an interview on NPR this weekend while driving to Pittsburgh with my wife and daughter. It’s an eight-plus-hour trip and it quickly became a blur of interstate rest stops and half-decent restaurants, so I can’t remember the person answering the questions, but he said something that got me thinking in a way that can only happen on long road trips.

He said, “I am not really a religious person – I don’t practice any more, but I still feel intensely spiritual.”

I think this stuck with me because I am pretty much the same.

I grew up Catholic (hence the picture of Vatican City) but never really connected spirituality with sitting in a huge ornate hall listening to old hymns and sermons that were re-hashed over and over again. It’s not that we lacked good priests – I have been entertained and inspired by several of the Catholic priests I have seen throughout the years. Read the rest of this entry »