"The Value of Religion - The Value of Spirituality"

Religion is, indeed, a very complex topic. There isn’t even agreement on just what religion is. In the west, religions are often defined as various beliefs in a deity, a God and it includes various articles of faith and rituals that accompany the religion. This definition does fit the western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But this is a very limited definition and it is not particularly accurate because there are literally thousands of other religions that offer different explanations of what religion is. While Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in the same one supreme deity – they use different names - Yahweh, God, and Allah. Other religions believe in many gods and some religions are atheistic meaning they do not believe in a supreme being as defined in the western religions.

Photo by Beth Avery

I think a broader view of religion is really necessary so, I define religion as a system of beliefs that define the world around a person and a culture. It is a system that deals with broader questions of human existence. How did this world come about? Why did it come about? Why am I here? How am I supposed to relate to the world? What are my responsibilities as a human being? How do I live my life? And all religions include many customs and rituals that are designed to connect their followers to the beliefs of the religion and to answer at least some of these questions. Religions also most often have sacred spaces and sacred places such as a church, a temple, a mosque or a special mountain, a river, a forest or a pilgrimage site. And some religions have some or all of these. To answer the many questions of our existence, religions usually have sacred scriptures of some kind as well. These may be oral or written.

We do not know, per se, just when religion got started. There is archeological evidence of religious practices among humans many tens of thousands of years ago. I submit that religion is embedded in our human nature and I think it is hardwired into us – at least most of us. We are an inquisitive species and this is the root of religion. I think religion is actually a need in humans. No matter what culture, no matter what group of people, asking ultimate questions is very important and so too is the need and practice of ritual.

Humans love rituals. Think about it. Rituals are certainly not limited to religions. Just about every transition in human life is augmented by ritual. Yes – this includes religious rituals but there are so many other rituals as well. Birthday parties, school graduations, national celebrations such as July 4th and Thanksgiving, President’s Day and Memorial Day and there are many, many more. And it seems society is always creating new rituals. Who ever heard years ago of “gender reveal parties” or “naming parties.” Human beings create our own rituals in the form of habits such as what we do each time of the day during the week and on weekends, what we do in our spare time, how we interact with friends and family and more. The point is that rituals are hardly limited to religion.

As I mentioned, religions also create rules and ethics on how a person should live their life - what is considered right and what is wrong. Religions creates boundaries on what is acceptable human behavior. To be sure, purely secular societies create similar boundaries but not in the same way. If a person breaks the law, there are criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment. If religious boundaries are broken there are greater consequences for a person that may be other worldly.

We live in an unusual time in human history where religion is actually on the decline in many parts of the world, including the United States. The Pew Research Center, which studies religion, details that in the mid-1970s, over 90% of Americans considered themselves Christian. In the next fifty years, this will drop to below 50%. This is an entirely new phenomena and the reasons are numerous, varied and complex. They range from intellectual conflicts with religious dogma to changes in family life, from affluence to religious diversity, from abuse by religious leaders, to the rise of social media which acts as a substitute for in-person interaction.

So, is this concerning? My answer is yes, profoundly so - and this despite the fact I believe I am a more spiritual than a religious person but I’ll get to that in a minute. I’ve recently had to think about this a lot.

I teach at Nichols College in Dudley Massachusetts. During the fall semester, I teach Leadership which is a required course for freshman. In the spring, I teach World Religions. In my World Religion classes, at the beginning of the semester, I ask my students to tell me what religion they are, do they practice their religion and how important it is to them. Except for less than a handful of students, nearly all my students tell me they have only a vague understanding of their claimed religion, that they do not practice their religion and it is not important to them. This seems to be in keeping with the Pew Research Center’s findings that religion is becoming less important in America.

In my Leadership class a few weeks ago, we were studying ethics in leadership. I gave a case study to my students which stated, “You are in a very tough math class and you are failing. You know that if you pass the final exam, you will pass the course. When you come back to your dorm room after dinner, you see the final exam on your desk which is dated tomorrow. You know it has been stolen. What do you do?”

I have a total of about 62 students in my two classes. Except for one student, every other student said they would use the stolen exam as a “study guide.” I was frankly nearly speechless when I heard this. Is there a connection between their lack of ethical awareness on this issue and their lack of religion or is it a change in family and society’s values? Or – it is both? I’m not sure but I do think a lack of religion is a factor. And in today’s world, even supposedly deeply conservative evangelical Christians excuse unethical behavior in others – often with expressions like, “nobody’s perfects or “we are all sinners.” This was not the case a few decades ago.

Far from just being rather agnostic about religion and failing to embrace a religion, there are also people in America who take an active stand to denigrate religion, to try to convince people that religion is just a mind game played by people who are trying to control other people. You may have heard the ads on the radio from Ronald Reagan Jr. – a man who grew up as a Presbyterian Christian but who now leads the Freedom from Religion Foundation. In these ads, Reagan declares himself “an unabashed atheist” who is not afraid of burning in hell.”

In his own words, Reagan states: (quote) “Religions may persist but they come and they go. Where are the old Norse gods today? Where are the worshippers of Amon-Ra today. A thousand years from now, what will people make of a man tortured to death on a cross, or of a prophet who was said to ride a white horse up to a mythical heaven. (Muhammed). Faith will fade, religions will flower and vanish, but reason remains. Reason is where I put my faith. Reason is where I stand and I am happy to stand with you.” (unquote)

To be sure, I have my issues with organized religion. This is why I am a Unitarian Universalist. I’ve spent my life studying the major world religions and, without exception, I find them all to be human made. That said, I think Ronald Reagan Jr. is overly myopic. For starters, Reagan seems to be mostly fixated on the God religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He mentions pagan religions which, for the most part, have disappeared around the world. And he states that “reason is where he stands.” The problem with this line of thinking is that Reagan indirectly suggests that human reason is capable of explaining all things and this is simply not true. The universe is vastly more complex than people realize. Reason can certainly help humans to explain a lot of it but not all of it. Suggesting that reason is a solution for all understanding is to put it bluntly – arrogant. I am also concerned that critics of religion usually focus on outdated or irrational beliefs but fail to acknowledge that there is also good in religions for religions can establish ways of living one’s life that provide a society with codes of conduct that benefit the entire society.

Sabine Hossenfelder is a German quantum physicist. She is not a religious person. She identifies herself as agnostic. She is a bit of an iconoclast in her field – that it, she takes exception with other physicists who think humans can figure everything out through reason and rationalism and logic. In her book “Existential Physics” she writes: ( quote) “While I find it comforting to think that reality can be explained merely through mathematics (and by default – human reason), I can’t actually get myself to believe it. It strikes me as presumptuous to think that humans have already discovered the language in which nature speaks…Who’s to say there isn’t a better way to understand our universe other than mathematics, one that may take us a million years to figure out – if ever. Just because we don’t know a better way to describe natural phenomena than mathematics doesn’t mean there isn’t one.” (unquote).

What we understand to be reason and rationalism for Dr. Hossenfelder have their limits. And as for God, she notes that the existence of God cannot be proven but so too – God cannot be disproven either – and science will never be able to do this.

In my view, some scientists have created but a new religion – the religion of science complete with its dogmas, sacred scripture, rituals, and sacred spaces.

So where are we to turn if we have trouble accepting the beliefs and practices of organized religions? I think the answer is we can reach for the spiritual – that which can lie within a religion but is so often beyond a religion.

So, what about spirituality? What is it? In a broad sense, I think spirituality includes components of religion but it is so much more. Spirituality is beyond religious rituals, religious beliefs and, religious rituals. Spirituality seeks a connection with “Other” and that Other is defined in so very many ways – sometimes by a religion but sometimes by ourselves. This connection is deeply personal. It is emotional. It is awe inspiring. It is uplifting. It is transformational. It can give us profound insights on our world and our place in the world. Spiritual moments can be transcending and they can take us beyond the mundane in our day-to-day life.

Spirituality is a recognition that there is a power in the universe that is greater than ourselves and spirituality can be an attempt to connect or feel a part of that power. For the individual, spirituality can be a search for ultimate or sacred meaning, and purpose in life. Additionally, it can mean seeking out and searching for personal growth, and establishing guidance for how one should live his or her life. Spirituality is also a way to obtain inner peace and calm.

Can religious people be spiritual? Absolutely – but many are not. Some religious people go through their day-to-day life practicing the rituals of their religion but never venturing into the realms of deep spiritual thinking and spiritual practice – which is also defined in so many vary different ways. Some criticize others for not being religious yet they themselves ignore the spiritual aspects of their own religion.

I have spoken before that people have three dimensions or components to their being – their body, their mind and their spiritual side. These are generally not equal in a person and they can change as we pass through the stages of life. But I submit that for each of us to be truly happy we must acknowledge all three components in our being and ensure there is a balance. When one component is ignored, it will affect our health and our happiness.

As the Buddha said, “Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”

Sometimes people are confused as to what spirituality is. For these people, it is a foreign term and this can be true for both religious and non-religious people. I am often asked – “just what is spirituality.” So let me offer three examples of people who have had a spiritual experience and finally begin to understand what it is. These three examples are based on true stories.

Henry was a simple man. He had grown up in a very conservative evangelical Christian family where, as a child and young person he was expected to go to church every Sunday, to a prayer meeting on Wednesday’s and Bible Study on Thursdays. As Henry grew into adulthood, he soured on his religious background. He began to see hypocrisy in so many of the people who attended his church. They professed supposedly Christian values but were forever looking down on others. He learned of some who bragged about cheating in business and he was particularly upset when a group of women and men from his church began an organized protest against minorities who were moving into their town.

Seeing all of this, Henry stopped going to church because he figured all other churches must be just like this. It’s not that he no longer believed in God but some of what he heard in church made no sense so he just focused on living his life without religion.

One day, Henry was walking in the woods on a nature trail outside his town. He went to his favorite spot which was by a tall waterfall surrounded by a lush and dense forest canopy. As he sat observing and listening to the waterfall something happened. All of a sudden, he became enveloped in all he saw and felt. The waterfall became louder and took on a haunting sound like music. Rays of sunshine glistened from the spray of the waterfall and fell on the leaves of the nearby trees. The sky above peeked through the trees and a rainbow formed around the waterfall. Henry was transfixed. He felt the breath leave his body and for one brief moment, he saw with clarity the oneness and sacredness of the earth, of life and his place within it. For the first time, Henry had a spiritual experience and it happened because he chose to spend time alone in his favorite place.

Keegan was taking several weeks to drive across country and he mostly took the so-called “blue highways” that is, he kept off the interstates and only used state roads and back roads so he could really see the passing countryside. Keegan had a friend who told him to visit the Navajo/Hopi reservation in Arizona and see the marvels of Canyon De Chelley – which is a National Park although few people visit it because it is on Navajo land. When Keegan arrived in Arizona on the reservation, he stayed overnight in the Indian village of Tuba City. The next day he drove toward the Canyon. At one point, he felt he was there and pulled off to the side of the road. Indeed, the Canyon was a short walk from his car. He noted the Canyon was a smaller Grand Canyon with all the beautiful desert colors, a lush green valley and a dry river bed meandering through the Canyon. But the most striking feature was the massive cliff dwelling built by the Anasazi – The Ancient Ones – some 1000 years ago. It took Keegan over an hour to get down into the Canyon and to the cliff dwelling. There were no people anywhere. He sat on a flat rock to take in the marvelous sights. All of a sudden, a strong wind whistled through the canyon and in the wind were female voices singing – no words, just melodious female voices. With the natural setting of the Canyon, the ancient cliff dwelling just behind him and the singing voices, Keegan was overwhelmed. An overpowering feeling of seeing the past, living in the present and envisioning the future swept over him. Keegan had a feeling that he and the universe were one. It was truly a spiritual experience.

Lisa was not a religious person, in fact, she believed religion was only a crutch for weak people to rely on. She scoffed whenever someone encouraged her to look for more in life than just the material and the physical. “Anything you can’t see and touch or rationally explain is just nonsense,” she would say. Lisa also found herself to be a bit selfish and this didn’t bother her at all.

One day Lisa was driving to work. She was late so she driving fast and not paying close attention to traffic. She saw the light turn yellow ahead but she decided to run it as it turned red. She didn’t see that a large truck had already entered the intersection and she ran right into it. The next thing Lisa knew she saw herself in an operating room in a hospital. She saw her body below and she saw the doctors and nurses working on her. Slowly the scene disappeared and she found herself flying effortlessly through a beautiful tunnel alight with magnificent colors and peaceful sounds. Toward the end of the tunnel was a feeling of pure love, of pure acceptance, of pure joy. A thought entered her head – “It is not your time. You must go back.” She didn’t want to go back. She wanted to stay. But the next thing she knew, Lisa was in her body in a bed, in a hospital room. A nurse came to her. “Hello my sweet,” she said. “You’ve been in a coma for several days but now you are back and the doctors feel you will be OK after some weeks recovering.

Lisa didn’t know what to think or say. She remembered the details of what had happened to her very clearly. The doctors were mystified when she described in vivid detail what they had been doing to her in the operating room. Lisa also remembered the tunnel, the beauty and the feelings of love and peace and joy. This changed her life forever. She would never be the same person. Instead, life took on new meaning and new purpose. She would never take it for granted again – and as for religion, “maybe it has a purpose,” she thought, “but then again – I think I now understand what a spiritual experience is.”

These three cases are just examples of spiritual experiences. Anyone and everyone can have them. They are “epiphanies” – manifestations, glimpses and perceptions of the true nature of existence and the meaning and purpose of life. Every person can have them if only they stop and think and take time with themselves in a favorite beautiful place. I am not saying this is easy. It takes time. It takes practice and it takes an open mind, an open heart and a commitment to reach beyond ourselves – to strive to look beyond what we know and understand. To take that walk beyond forever.

As the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin – once said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Let us all take time to search and to seek the spiritual which we can certainly do here on Cape Cod.

Reverend Christopher McMahon

UUMH

November 24, 2024