Recent research reports that Americans may be getting less religious, but feelings of spirituality are on the rise. In fact, this trend is growing so much that some politicians are beginning to recognize people who fit this trend as a unique bloc of voters. The term that has been adopted to describe people who fit this trend is “Spiritual But Not Religious” (SBNR).

Whereas the terms spirituality and religion have historically been interchangeable, people who identify as SBNR make radical distinctions between spirituality and religion. This link attempts to describe the many different ways that SBNRs think about and practice individualized spirituality as an alternative to religion.

The Religion Detox Network forum for the “Spiritual But Not Religious” (SBNR) will be of greatest interest to former Jews and Christians who have rejected religions in in which they were raised favor of cultivating personal spiritual development practices that satisfy needs formerly filled by religion. It may also be of interest to people without any religious history but who now have a personal style of spirituality that works for them.

SBNRs coming out of Judaism and Christianity may be done with religion but they may not be done with God. Those who are not done with God or who are curious about God but want nothing to do with religion will find the Religion Detox Network teachings instructive about God’s preferred alternative to religion which is to be spiritual but not religious. They must be very careful, however, to be sure that the kind of spirituality they practice agrees with what God says and not with what the world says.

See this link for the SBNR forum. Anyone may use this forum to report on alternatives to religion with which they are experimenting and to connect with people who think and feel like they do. Before they comment, however, they would do well to check that their understanding of spirituality agrees with God’s definition of faith.

Contributors to all forums are strongly encouraged to read Cautions About Forum Posts before posting to any forum.