Religion versus Spirituality

Growing up, my brother has always been a strong atheist. We would often get into arguments surrounding the survival and importance of religion in a technologically changing world. He was convinced that religion was doomed to disappear within the next hundred years or so. However, listening to the discussion in class and through McGuire’s reading, I have come to see that religion as an institution may be dwindling, but spirituality is on the rise. Many students in our class identified with the fact that they grew up with institutionalized religion, then drifted to a more personal and spiritual practice. As McGuire points out in the first two chapters of her book, religion is inherent in human nature and practice. People need religion is explain the unexplainable and give them meaning and reason in an often complex world. Religion is also a tool for socialization, which groups use to develop a standard for culture, rules, and beliefs. While for some religion may seem outdated, it is going through a transition of evolving to a new generation of people.