Differences between spirituality and religion?

[too2sweet]

What (if any) are the differences between spirituality and religion?
And do you see Witchcraft as a religion, or as spirituality (or something else)?  

[Korealia]

One of the best quotes I ever heard:

"Religion is for people who believe in hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there." - unknown  

[iRayneMoon]

Religion means "enlightenment" but spiritual is more of what you make it. Sense Wicca allows you to make of it what you will you will it is spiritual. A religion has set rules and is not as flexible. If that makes any sense. It's hard to explain. Spiritual is more of an individual and their understanding rather than just being taught something and following it no matter what. If that helps. lol mrgreen  

[AiRune]

There's plenty of folks that have both, neither, or one of the two. As for Wicca, I think it depends on what tradition you follow, if any, and the individual. Some have a hard time grasping the spiritual side of rituals. Others don't need rituals to access the divine.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

too2sweet

What (if any) are the differences between spirituality and religion?
And do you see Witchcraft as a religion, or as spirituality (or something else)?

Hmm...

To me, spirituality is more of an individual thing. It's about how the person finds and makes connections between his/herself and the larger powers (if he/she believes in them) at work. I think also it's possible to be spiritual but not believe in a deity.

And religion is the sort of set, structured way available to someone to sort of help them either refine spirituality or make it easier. That isn't to say that to be spiritual one needs to have a religion. It's like having a ball of Play-doh; you can make all sorts of cool, wonderful things with your own imagination, but if you want, there are also a huge selection of molds and presses and stuff you can also use to make the play-doh into other shapes.

I think witchcraft is..well, closer to being spiritual, but neither. I think practicing it for a while can nudge someone into being spiritual, but I don't think witchcraft in and of itself is a religion or a spiritual practice.

I hope that all made sense sweatdrop  

[LordNeuf]

I always thought of it as the bucket and the water. Religion is a bucket, spirituality is the water.

Religion gives a person a method of discriminating between the sacred and the mundane. For example, for a Catholic... Going into a church and approaching the altar. A Catholic traditionally takes a knee before the altar and crosses themselves. Noting to the Catholic that the Catholic altar is a sacred thing and not just a fancy table. To anyone else on the planet who is not a Catholic, there is no need to kneel and cross themselves, for that altar isn't sacred to them. Same thing with Muslims praying towards Mecca. Is a sacred place and prayers should be aimed that way. To others, Mecca is as mundane as the rest of the planet and it doesn't matter which direction you pray too.

Spirituality on the other hand, is what takes religious traditions of sacred and mundane to a personal level. For example, lets take our Catholic and Muslim from the example above. If the Catholic kneels out of habit and has no emotion of either reverence, pride or whatever. If the Catholic feels nothing when they kneel and cross themselves before their altar then they lack spirituality. If for instance the Muslim takes a kneel to Mecca and is doing it out of tradition but doesn't understand why it's so important to do it 5 times a day, then he lacks spirituality.

However, Other people have their own visions of what is sacred, for example a Kung Fu Master may consider his Dojo a sarcred place. A foot ball player, his homefield may be hallowed ground. Yet these places may seem mundane to others. They both have sacred spaces, but does that make Kung Fu a religion? or Football?

I say yes.

Lets look at Football as a religion, now lets take a look at a devout football supporter, and this fan likes The Pittsburgh Steelers.

This fan considers The Steelers better than all other football teams, the fan will buy uniforms and clothing with logos to show how devoted they are to the Steelers, they will treat their sports bar as a church and go there weekend to watch the Steelers and when the opportunity shows up, they will make a pilgrimage to go see the Steelers play on their hallowed grounds of Heinz Field.

Sounds like a religion to me.

Others may not see it my way, but they may Football as just another mundane activity and their fan base a bunch of drunken morons who like cramming themselves in a stadium when it's 20 below zero and cheer at 11 guys running up and down a 100 yard field.

Either way, you have to be pretty devoted to your team to take your shirt off for them when it's 20 below zero.

Then there are the rest of the people who watch Football. They might consider their home team better, just because they are from there, but they don't own a Jersey, they don't go to sports bars, they don't yell at their television thinking the guys on the other side of the scream can hear them. They consider Football Mundane.

Can football lack spirituality? For a fan yes. Consider watching football and it's boring. You know the names of the players, you know their records, you know their statistics, you can easily figure out what the opponents are going to do to stop your home team from taking the ball down the field... but you don't care anymore, Football hasn't been the same since your favorite coach retired, you think the new coach is an idiot and have lost interest in your home team.

You just watch the game because it's tradition in your house to watch the game with the neighbors, it's your time with your family as it has been for generations and they're 10 other people around you who would be very upset if you changed the channel.


Now... with all that said and done.

Lets take it to... Beltaine, you're around the Sacred Flame, prepping the burning man and you feel something, and you're glad to be taking part of this ritual and love the whole thing of it. The whole Beltaine ritual is a religious experience. If you're standing around the Sacred Flame looking at the wicker man thinking to yourself how bored you are with this whole thing, you're still part of the ritual, but you lack the spirituality acknowledge that you're part of it.  

[mechanical kitsy]

my point of view between spirituality and religion:
religion can and does cause chaos and misery, along with uniting some people in small groups (who end up feuding in some way with other religions), but spirituality is just a 'i believe' statement, and just about everyone has some sort of spirituality, and when religion is put aside and it's just plain spirituality, everyone's more peaceful.
i dunno. it's late, i've just been subjected to hair dye fumes for an hour, and my explaining ability is a bit fuzzy right now.

oh, and i think witchcraft is more spiritual than religious, because of the nature of it, it doesnt matter what religion you practice, most people experiment in some way with witchcraft in their lifetime.
actually, you think about it, witchcraft involves a lot of rhyming, and prayers rhyme, so, um... they must be connected...
yea yea i'll explain later when i can think.  

[A Scarecrow]

Religion is for those who like to be told what do by whoever interpreted their book of worship.
Spirituality is for those with free will.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

Socially Inept Butterfly

Religion is for those who like to be told what do by whoever interpreted their book of worship.
Spirituality is for those with free will.

So you can't have free will and follow a religion?
Examples please?  

[A Scarecrow]

Ultraviolett1127

Socially Inept Butterfly

Religion is for those who like to be told what do by whoever interpreted their book of worship.
Spirituality is for those with free will.

So you can't have free will and follow a religion?
Examples please?

I'm speaking more of the extremes than the gray areas.
But generally, I've seen that the "religious" people aren't always spiritualists and instead would prefer to do whatever a pastor, rabbi, high priestess, etc. tells them they should do for their god/ess rather than actually search for the truth.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

Socially Inept Butterfly

Ultraviolett1127

Socially Inept Butterfly

Religion is for those who like to be told what do by whoever interpreted their book of worship.
Spirituality is for those with free will.

So you can't have free will and follow a religion?
Examples please?

I'm speaking more of the extremes than the gray areas.
But generally, I've seen that the "religious" people aren't always spiritualists and instead would prefer to do whatever a pastor, rabbi, high priestess, etc. tells them they should do for their god/ess rather than actually search for the truth.

Gray area = those who temper their religion with spirituality I'm guessing?