My last post created a lot of comments on Facebook.  A colleague of mine disagreed with the article and me for the attitude against those who consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.”  Actually, I was agreeing to a short article written by UCC pastor Lillian Daniel and her comments have received a bit of criticism themselves.  Here’s what Presbyterian pastor Adam Copeland had to say:

1. Really? An airplane? Would that be first-class or coach? I meet with
   people (young adults, mostly) every week who call themselves “spiritual
   but not religious.” They tend to be underemployed, live month-to-month,
   and are doing their best to find meaning in their tumultuous lives.
   Sure, the phrase “spiritual but not religious” needs some unpacking for
   pastors whose livelihoods depend on people’s public religiosity, but
   I’ve never heard it as “rebellion against the religious status quo.”
   Rather, the phrase is more a humble testimony that they just don’t seem
   to connect with fancy churches. And who can blame them?
2. As opposed to what Daniel suggests, the “spiritual but not religious” folks I talk to yearn for community.
   I have not found one who wants simply to have “deep thoughts all by
   oneself” as Daniel accuses. What might be true, however, is that the
   community they seek isn’t offered at most mainline churches with our
   endowment funds and dress codes and judgmental matriarchs and
   patriarchs. You see, some “spiritual but not religious” folks sense a
   certain righteous attitude from these institutions (go figure?). Many
   were once burned by hugely negative experiences with the church and
   it’ll take the church reaching out — in love, not in snark — for healing
   to begin.
3. God is working in the lives of the “spiritual but not religious.” I
   happen to believe they have a huge amount to teach the church about
   connecting to God, supporting true community, sustaining spiritual
   practices, and living out St. Augustine’s call for a “faith seeking
   understanding.” Daniel asks, “Can I spend my time talking to someone
   brave enough to encounter God in a real human community?” I say, Yes,
   feel free to do that in your church. But also be brave enough to listen
   to those encountering God in ways you don’t fully understand. Learn from
   them.

Copeland does have some points to make, but I can’t help but agree more with Daniel’s original snarky response, than with Copeland’s defense of the SBNRs.  Maybe part of it comes from being in ministry a bit longer than Copeland.  Just a few weeks from my 42nd birthday, I’m not the angry young man I used to be.  Things that I thought were just the bees knees are now seen as sheer foolishness.  I’m not whining as much about how unfair the world is and more willing to say that we need to develop a spiritual toughness against the harshness of life.  The people inside the church are not as stupid and backward as we thought they were.  The folks outside the church are not the fonts of wisdom we once thought they were.
Continue reading “Lillian Daniel, Adam Copeland and the SBNRs”