Published October 14, 1999
One of the reasons that I am a religious studies major is that I thoroughly enjoy talking about religion.
I sometimes ask people I barely know to outline their religious beliefs for me simply because I am interested in their perspectives on life. More often, I initiate heated theological debates in order to entertain myself, although I know in my heart that the real purpose of any such debate should be the discovery of truth.
I talk about religion daily and think about it constantly; I know of no more important topic about which to concern myself.
Perhaps as a result of my near obsession with religion, I was not at all surprised by the comments of the Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota, concerning the �crutch� that organized religion provides for the �weak-minded.� While Governor Ventura�s opinions might be a little on the extreme side, they are actually very similar to thoughts I frequently hear expressed by people who would prefer to think of themselves as spiritual rather than religious.
For many people, the notion of organized religion has become synonymous with decadent rules about which they would rather not worry. Instead, it is the possession of spirituality that they consider important, for it has been sold to them as a product that fulfills the same function as religion without including any of the uncomfortable �side effects.�
For my part, I see great value in organized religion and believe that everyone should be part of one. While I will not try to advocate any particular religious system (other than to say that I am personally quite partial to the Roman Catholic variety), I will briefly explain why I consider organized religion so important and, ultimately, more rewarding than spirituality alone
I believe that there is a little empty space inside the soul of every human being that cannot be filled by anything of this world. Money, sex, drugs and whatever else that people might try to use will only work momentarily to distract us from it.
We can try to ignore it by never thinking about it, but there are times when life�s circumstances will force us to acknowledge that it is there. These circumstances do not create the hole; they merely neutralize the effectiveness of the usual distractions.
Spirituality is an attempt to fill this little hole, but I believe that the brand of spirituality usually practiced in our society is too compartmentalized to do so.
Spirituality should not be something that you practice once a day for an hour; it must be present in the way you live your entire life. A fully spiritual person is spiritual in every action, every thought, and every feeling. As a result, such people tend to naturally gravitate toward those of like spirituality. Before you know it, you have something very closely resembling an organized religion.
But what keeps such a group from being an organized religion is the lack of common beliefs about the universe. In the end, an organized religion is a gathering of people of varying degrees of spirituality that share a common set of beliefs.
These beliefs are not supposed to be easy things to profess; on the contrary, there would be no value to them if they were simple to believe and obvious to everyone. They require faith, an irrational component of life that makes it worth living precisely because it is beyond the logic that the world supports.
Faith can certainly be present outside of organized religion; it can also not be lacking within individuals inside of one. I do not mean to suggest that organized religion has any sort of monopoly on faith; I�m merely pointing out that it provides a structure in which faith can be built upon and shared with others.
At its best, organized religion is a merger of spirituality and faith for a community that allows it to grow and become stronger than it could ever otherwise hope to become. It uses personal spirituality and gives it focus, purpose, and comfort. It also does something else that spirituality alone can never entirely do: It fills the empty space.
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Updated Wednesday, 13-Oct-1999 23:04:37 EST
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