Spiritual But Not Religious?

It sounds like song title, Spirituaql but not Religious…  The trending seems to match the PEW results from last year that found a down turn in American Religious trends, but an uptick in general spirituality.

Now, this last Sunday’s Parade magazine published their results asking America, Have you become more Spiritual?

From the publication:

HAS AMERICA BECOME MORE SPIRITUAL?
EXCLUSIVE PARADE MAGAZINE POLL REVEALS AMERICANS’ THOUGHTS ON RELIGION, FAITH, BELIEF IN GOD AND MORE

New York, October 1 — America is generally thought to be among the most religious nations in the Western world. Results from a new PARADE poll on spirituality are revealed in this Sunday’s issue of the magazine. Here are some of the findings:

  • 69% of Americans believe in God; 27% don’t; 7% aren’t sure about the existence of God.
  • 78% of respondents believe in an afterlife; 43% think people go to Heaven or Hell. depending on their actions on earth; 28% believe our souls or spirits live on, and 7% think we will be reincarnated as another life on Earth.
  • 33% said religion is important but not the most important thing. The most religious and least religious respondents balanced each other—24% said religion was the most important thing in their lives and 22% said it wasn’t a factor at all. Another 22% said religion was in their lives but not particularly important.
  • 30% attend a religious service once or more each week; 20% of respondents say they go to services anywhere from once a month to a few times a year; 50% rarely or never attend.
  • 82% would consider marrying someone of a different faith; a nearly equal number (78%) would never think of converting to another religion.
  • 51% of respondents said they pray daily; 67% said they pray because it brings them comfort and hope. 15% of those who pray said they do so because God expects them to. 77% who pray do so outside of religious services.
  • When praying, 72% ask for the well-being of others, 60% for forgiveness, 27% for personal success, and 21% for money or other material things.
  • How has the recession affected religion? Just 7% of respondents say they are attending religious services more often, and 10% of respondents say they’ve been going less frequently since the recession began.
  • Two-thirds of respondents say they’ve never met with mediums or psychics, had a psychic experience, or even watched a psychic or medium on TV.  12% believe in astrology and check their horoscopes regularly. The rest don’t believe in astrology at all or read horoscopes purely for fun.
  • 83% have had no experiences with the spirit of anyone who has passed away, while 17% believe they have.
  • When asked to pick their favorite of these films involving spirituality—The Da Vinci Code, The Exorcist, The Omen, The Sixth Sense, The Ten Commandments, Ghost, and It’s a Wonderful Life—one out of every four people selected The Ten Commandments.

The movie selection seems to have a strange bias or lack of similarity, so the comparison seems skewed, but in the end, does that matter much?

How important is spirituality to you? Take their poll and see the full results at Parade.com/spiritual

 

Posted in Masonic Traveler and tagged , .

A devoted student of the Western Mystery Traditions, Greg is a firm believer in the Masonic connections to the Hermetic traditions of antiquity, its evolution through the ages and into its present configuration as the antecedent to all contemporary esoteric and occult traditions. He is a self-called searcher for that which was lost, a Hermetic Hermit and a believer in “that which is above is so too below.” Read more about Greg Stewart.

One Comment

  1. good day to all. the article above is true. because now a days people are more on their everyday lives problems in financial, family, work and etc. and forgot the essence of prayer. as we all know prayer is the most important thing in life. prayer can uplift our life, prayer can cure our inner illness…its like going to church and share your problems with a priest.or going a psychiatrist telling him or her all your problem and he’ll medicate you…it is okey not to much religion but not to forget prayer thanking God everyday. we individual here on earth have a different but the same purpose to live life,by Gods help we are in the direction to the light and without him our direction is darkness. thats all and GOD BLESS US ALL.

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