Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith

Many people today feel they have stepped away from religion, and found a way to feed their spirituality without a religion or faith practice.

Religion and its contribution to culture of peace (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many practice 'out of religion' activities and are convinced they have nothing to do with 'a religion'. But....If they have certain things they believe in, If they use these concepts to better themselves and others, and If their concepts lead them closer to "the source"... is it not a religion or faith practice for them?  You can also ask if spirituality is connected with only religious exercise.

All created in the image of God do have received intelligence and some instinct also knowing good and bad.  Throughout history people looked for ways to form their minds. They created different systems to form the soul (spirit/pneuma/psyche/mind). In this way they also created rites or returning actions which were recognised by others and as such got them labelled under religious and spiritual groups. In their truest deepest form religion and spirituality may belong together.

Faith - is the demonstration of our spiritual beliefs even if it is a combination of various spiritualities
interfaith is the sharing of one's faith with others to gain an understanding of one's beliefs.  When we look at "Interfaith" we may find a situation were the people present a willingness to overlook the borders of the different faithgroups. Those who consider themselves belonging to an interfaith are persons of goodwill who want to reconcile the various opinions, beliefs, faiths and sometimes invention of the wide variety of religions which have developed as a result of the lack of understanding of the true facts of our spirituality.

His Religion and Hers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do not need a religion to question ourselves , the reason why we are here or what we do have to do. When we do use our brains we shall come to an understanding that have in our soul (nephesh) the flesh and the inner soul (pneuma/psyche) our way of thinking which is the one which give more importance to the soul (ruach/breath/wind), the life-breath which keeps us alive. This knowledge having to give importance to psychological and spiritual development gives way to the liberty to look across the many borders set up by religious, non-religous and atheist people.

As explained in the several articles on Spirituality and Religosity on Stepping Toes, "Spirituality" requires no belief or faith, because it has the knowledge of its abilities and experience. Our mind can think and guide our body. Without a healthy mind we shall not be able to get a healthy body.

Today we see that some sort of cross-fertilisation is occurring within and between religions at this juncture of history.

As we are caught up with it and feel the energies of the process positively so we find ourselves sustained by what we are calling "spirituality", and exhilarating tone of life that is a vibrant reality for many - whether our lives are full of suffering and tragedy or just plain humdrum, or remarkably privileged amonst the gross inequalities of our lives. So our old religious homes are actually benefitting from this renewal rather than fading away and dying. There remains however the problems of fanaticism and desperation and exclusivism in religions. Can our spiritualities overcome our new fanaticisms and the continuing oppressive inequalities of our ancient political economies which seem to revive old types of wars of religion?

writes George Armstrong.
according to Rev. Stephen Albert:

WP Religion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Interfaith" is not a religion. It does not have a set of rules that require an adherent to act or perform one way or another. Those who call or involve themselves with Interfaith, may celebrate one or more religious traditions and they honor the many people who believe differently than they. The beauty of interfaith is that once you take the time to investigate the deeper beliefs of a religious group of people, the more they begin sounding just like you. Abigail and I just returned from the NAIN (North American Interfaith Network) conference in Detroit Michigan where 150 or so people from a variety of faiths celebrated the similarities and the differences of the many religions. They were not afraid to ask the "hard questions" and to more deeply interact with new friends and colleagues. For the last two years I have mentioned this yearly conference to this group and, besides us, only Laura Zinn has attended. By the way, her workshops were great and she is a great organizer and presenter. Mark your calendars now to attend the NAIN Connect from July 19-22, 2015 in Regina Saskatchewan Canada. Bring your interfaith friends or even those who believe their way is the only way (They won't come anyway). The events are fun, they feed us great and you will come away with a great respect for whatever you believe. Blessings.

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Additional literature:

1. Religions and Mainliners
2. What is faith and is it the only thing required
3. Faith
4. Soul
5. Do not forget the important sign of belief
6. Living in faith
7. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
8. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
9. Ian Barbour connecting science and religion
10. Religion and spirituality
11. Looking for True Spirituality 1 Intro
12. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
13. Looking for True Spirituality 3 Mind of Christ
14. Looking for True Spirituality 4 Getting to Know the Mind of Christ
15. Looking for True Spirituality 5 Fruitage of the Spirit
16. Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer
17. Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
18. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
19. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
20. Experiencing God
21. The Supreme Being God of gods
22. Cosmos creator and human destiny
23. Only One God
24. God is One
25. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
26. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
27. Preparedness to change
28. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
29. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
30. Being Religious and Spiritual 3 Philosophers, Avicennism and the spiritual
31. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
32. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
33. Fruits of the spirit will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruit
34. American atheists most religiously literate Americans

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Related articles

• Bklyn Boro Pres Adams Leads Interfaith Rally Against Hate Attacks On Religious Communities (jpupdates.com)
  “When any one group is assailed by the fabric of our society, then it’s torn to pieces,” said Ibrahim Kurtiuis of the United American Muslim Faith Mosque. “Hatred in any type of form will not be tolerated at all by our community or any community in the greatest city in the world.”
• Minnesota Interfaith Group Changes Its Name to Become More Inclusive of Atheists (patheos.com)
  When you mention the word “Interfaith” around atheists, you often hear a lot of pushback against the word itself. Even if an interfaith dialogue is supposed to represent a conversation between people of all different beliefs, I’ve heard atheists say something like, Atheism isn’t a faith, so “interfaith” excludes us by definition.
  Well, a group in Minnesota has finally taken a positive step toward becoming more inclusive.
  The St. Paul Interfaith Network in Minnesota hosts a monthly meeting called the “Interfaith Conversation Cafe” (ICC) where different groups come together to talk about whatever that month’s theme is.
  
• How Spiritual Can You Be Without Religion? (patheos.com)
  New Age thinkers usually enter the ditch on the other side of the road: They idealize altered states of consciousness and draw specious connections between subjective experience and the spookier theories at the frontiers of physics. Here we are told that the Buddha and other contemplatives anticipated modern cosmology or quantum mechanics and that by transcending the sense of self, a person can realize his identity with the One Mind that gave birth to the cosmos.
  In the end, we are left to choose between pseudo-spirituality and pseudo-science.
  
• Understanding the multi-faith initiative (elonpendulum.com)
  One of the developmental goals of young adulthood is to clarify what our “religions” will be, what our deepest convictions are, and what we will do about any of them. So our priority is to help you discover, explore, more deeply understand, and take ownership of your faith.  Whatever your tradition we aim to encourage your knowledge and practice.  We won’t make you something you’re not.  We want you to be a rooted and good at who you are and choose to be.
  
• Religion and devotion, prayer and meditation (lifesharerjuneluna.wordpress.com)
  Spirituality is religion put into real form and applied practically. The Bible is a scared scripture. When we read it, its essence must be put into our hearts and minds, not our armpits.
• HumanistLife : A Humanism without the word 'spirituality' (humanistlife.org.uk)
  Can humanists be spiritual and/or use the term spiritual? Should humanists use the term? Is spirituality ‘the best word’ to describe our sense of deepest meaning? I will focus on the question of why I do not use the word, but I also want to state up front that humanists can use the term spirituality if they find it appropriate. I do not use it for two reasons. First, using other words helps me clearly communicate my humanism to non-humanists. Second, I find other words more moving.
• Is Humanism a Religion? (appliedsentience.com)
  Religion may be impossible to define, whether we ask ourselves what the word means or what specific things count as “religious.”  In his classic text The Sociology of Religion, the famous sociologist Max Weber argued that “Definition can be attempted, if at all, only at the conclusion of the study” of religion.  However, as Nicholas Wade points out, and does in his own book, The Faith Instinct, Weber never defines religion – even at the end!
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  Just as the definition of “religion” varies greatly, there is a lot of variety in the content and form of Humanism.  Humanism focuses mostly on a method, namely naturalism and reasoned experience, instead of a set of dogmas from holy books or prophets.  So, given the fact that we all have different personal experiences and capacities to reason, the conclusions we come to can be expected to vary.
  This has two effects. First, different groups use different definitions of religion.  Second, different groups often have widely divergent Humanist worldviews.  So even on inclusive definitions many Humanist groups simply are not religious.  Historically, different Humanist groups have self-identified as religious and non-religious.
  
  
• Religion vs Spirituality (spreadmyvision.wordpress.com)
  Man made religions are nothing but a group of cunning crafty peoples’ way of holding the reigns to others’ faith and hence their fates. No wonder loss of faith in religions is getting increasingly common among the youth today.
• How do you define religion? (thoughtofvg.wordpress.com)
  If one attempts to describe it in terms of belief in God, Buddhism wouldn’t be considered a religion and comparatively, Any organisation or collective group would be labelled a religion if the definition of  “a group in which all members have  similar moral beliefs and goals” were used.  A more accurate definition would perhaps be found by comparing the world religions and by discussing what common concepts they share.
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  Conclusively, we can see that what most religions have in common is spiritual awareness and goals, be there a God or not. Abrahamic fiaths have spiritual goals to become closer with God, Buddhism focusses on the journey to spiritual enlightenment and Hinduism acknowledges a spiritual link and awareness between all things in existence. It is therefore not belief in God that separates moral organisations from religions, but spirituality is what makes an organisation a religion.

Interfaithbeweging nu ook actief in Nederland

Zaterdag 5 september vond de eerste viering plaats van wat in de media bekend staat als 'de kerk van het ietsisme'.
"Het ietsisme heeft de sfeer van 'alles op één hoop gooien' en, waar handig voor jezelf, maar wat 'rond te shoppen'. Dàt komt niet overeen met de sfeer en doelstellingen van RenaisSenseMovement"
"Over het algemeen zijn we niet zo gewend om ons te laten leiden door wat ons kan raken, maar door rationeel samengestelde ideeën. Niet dat dit fout is, vaak heel nuttig zelfs, maar je kunt je afvragen waar het evenwicht is. Alles wat niet in een kader past, wordt bij voorbaat veroordeeld. De vooronderstellingen zijn niet van de lucht. Men denkt meteen van de hoed en de rand te weten en reacties als “Hoe kun je nu zeggen dat alle religies samen kunnen?”, “Dus je gooit alles gewoon op één hoop en je shopt rond?”, “Neem jij een religie als … werkelijk serieus?” en “Toch ben je simpelweg nog steeds dat vrome hervormde meisje, die alleen maar denkt dat ze anders is” komen mijn kant in." zegt Joan Elkerbout, de eerste Nederlandse voorganger van de RenaisSense Movement.
Zij vervolgt: "Daar waar religies uitgaan van een min of meer vastgesteld frame waar je al dan niet ‘gelovige’ in wordt, daar begint RenaisSenseMovement (Interfaith) bij ons zelf. Elke religie is begonnen met persoonlijke ervaringen.
Daarop zijn ideeën gevormd, die nooit meer werkelijk de diepte weergeven wat die ene of paar personen hebben ervaren – toen. En toch geweldige stof! Maar wat ervaren we zelf van God? Van de Essentie in dit Bestaan, hoe we het persoonlijk ook benoemen. Ook stil staan en van elkaar horen hoe we Dit noemen, in welk begrip voor ons het sterkst die ervaring gevangen ligt. Vervolgens de wijsheid uit de wereldreligies annex wijsheidstradities een licht laten werpen op die eigen ervaring en hem zo te verdiepen en te leren begrijpen. Er dichterbij te komen.

Stil te staan ook bij onze relatie met die Essentie, met de Spirit, JHWH, Allah of God. Wat gebeurt er in ons wanneer we die bron in ons zelf leren benaderen, leren kennen en erkennen? Elk aspect van ego, van meer willen hebben, de ander bevechten, negeren, belachelijk maken, ervan uitgaan dat je altijd gelijk hebt, lak hebben aan wat de wereld werkelijk van ons vraagt, verdwijnt dat niet als sneeuw voor de zon? Is zwart-wit denken dan niet van de baan? En als dat zo is, wat komt er dan voor in de plaats?

Dààr wil RenaisSenseMovement mee bezig zijn, met beschikbaarheid voor de Wereld. Daar waar we nodig zijn. Voor elkaar. Beschikbaarheid voortkomend uit spirituele diepgang, gevierd met zijn allen. Gebruik makend van de wijsheid die mensen door de tijden heen en over de hele wereld aan onze generatie mensen gegeven hebben. Samen door de deur van de toekomst, omdat die toekomst duidelijk toe is aan een andere manier van samenleven!"

Interfaith in Nederland

In Nederland begint in september een nieuwe kerk die ’een relatie met spirit, de natuur, God of Iets’ legt – en zo wordt de kerk die nu nog een ’beweging’ heet, de eerste officiële tempel voor het ietsisme bij onze noorderburen.
domineesdochter Joan Elkerbout (39) uit Sint-Oedenrode stapte voor haar opleiding elke maand een andere religie binnen. "Ik ben niet opgeleid in één religie, maar in alle"„Ik onderging de bijpassende gebeden en rituelen zelf.” zegt ze.
Elkerbout ontleent haar inspiratie aan de Amerikaanse Interfaith Church, die een kwarteeuw bestaat. In Londen, waar in 1996 al een interreligieus seminarie is opgezet, is de kerk een succes, zegt Elkerbout.
Na een zoektocht vond ze in Amerika wat ze zocht: de One Spirit Learning Alliance in New York. Die leidt sinds zeven jaar interreligieuze voorgangers op. Met de inzegening van Elkerbout in de Verenigde Staten is Nederland een pionier in interreligieus voorgaan rijker. „De meeste afgestudeerden uit New York sluiten zich aan bij een interreligieuze kerk in Amerika of brengen het geleerde in praktijk via hun baan, bijvoorbeeld in het welzijnswerk of als therapeut.” Eenmaal in Nederland begint ze niet alleen het eerste interreligieuze kerkgenootschap, maar in de toekomst mogelijk ook een interreligieus seminarie.

Lees meer >’Ik sticht een kerk voor alle religies’