SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION. HOW THEY’RE NOT THE SAME AND WHY IT MATTERS.
The way we talk about the things we care about most reveals so much of our perspective on life.
Eventually meaning finds expression in words, but so also does intention, purpose and our individual worldviews.
It might be that all our differences at the end of the day only come down to mere semantics, but on the other hand, if we don’t use words to express ourselves, what do we have left?
In related news, this week two very different stories about God, spirituality and religion were posted on CNN.com.
The first featured Rainn Wilson, now famous for his role as Dwight Schrute in The Office, speaking at the SXSW technology fair about his website, Soul Pancake. Wilson expressed how the internet was the future of spirituality, and how an increased openness for spiritual conversations through technological media, might just make us better humans and the world a more humane place.
At the other end of the spectrum Mark Driscoll recorded an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan on his new book, The Truth About Sex, Friendship And Life Together. Driscoll fervently fielded questions from Piers about his stance on sex and male superiority, and for most of the time expressed himself in a defensive manner, using words that excluded some and created more questions in others.
Regardless of the content and whether you agree with it or not, I couldn’t help but notice the differences in choice about:
- The mediums used to convey the initial message [website vs book]
- The platforms chosen to further the conversation [live technology fair vs pre-recorded talk show]
- The general disposition of the conversations [for something vs against something]
- The basic premise and bottom line of the talks [let’s create something better vs let’s make sure we don’t do something wrong]
- The sources credited for the content [human experience vs The Bible]
It seems that on every level, non-followers of Jesus that do not associate with the church are running circles around traditional clergy when it comes to engaging a broken world in the conversations of spirituality and life.
Their message may be warped and their content not true to our own held convictions of faith, but nonetheless, they seem to strike a chord on what it means to be innately human, and how that translates into our spiritual expressions.
Maybe there’s something to learn here, and to apply to your own communication the next time you have the opportunity to represent the church of Jesus to an unbelieving world.
Or, you could just still talk at them, quoting sources as if they already believe that what you’re saying is true, and later on judge them because they did not buy into your specific brand of naysayer-religion.
As in the time of Jesus and the early church, the world is spiritual and its people ready for spiritual conversations.
Can you move outside yourself, constantly finding new words to describe Jesus’s love for us and our love for Him?
And while you’re at it, find the platforms where those people ready to hear your words, are actually hanging out?

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