Difference Between Religion and Spirituality

Religion is a formalised belief system that primarily deals with faith in God, often through intermediaries such as priests and sacred scriptures. Spirituality is more concerned with experience and less with organised rituals.

Essential Differences Between Religion and Spirituality

Literal Interpretation of Scriptures.

Religions usually view certain scriptures as revealing a divine teaching. For Christians this is the bible, for Muslims the Qu'ran.

Spirituality gives less importance to scriptural writing. A spiritual approach takes a more liberal / ecumenical approach. One could point to a passage in Corinthians about the 'spirit of the law and letter of the law'

From a religious perspective, knowledge of scriptures is deemed very good. A spiritual perspective places less emphasis on knowledge and more on the practise of spiritual ideals.

What Is The Highest Truth?

Often religions get bogged down in belief systems. From a religious perspective it appears that there are contradictions between different religions and therefore there is only onereal truth (or at least one religion is much better than others). A spiritual approach doesn't worry about intellectual contradictions. - Divine teachings can be expressed in different ways at different circumstances at different periods of human history. However, the ultimate Truth is beyond all mental conceptions. The ultimate Truth is not intellectual but pure consciousness. It is this consciousness that reveals the underlying unity of different religious and spiritual traditions.

God

A religious perspective primarily sees God as a creator far beyond man, and it would be considered heresy to see man as Divine. However, spirituality embraces that idea that man in his highest realisation is God. (though other terms such as Supreme Spirit, Brahman, Buddhahood may be used.

Who is God?

Man’s eternal question is:
Who is God?
God’s immediate answer is:
“My child, who else is God,
If not you?”

- Sri Chinmoy (1)

This is not to say the human ego is God. It is only when the individual ego has been let go of, that man can realise his true nature, which is the transcendental and universal consciousness.

Sin / Ignorance

Religion places stress on the role of sin and ethical living. Spirituality places less emphasis on man's misdeeds but, the power of spiritual practise to illumine man's ignorance

Is There Really a Difference Between Religion and Spirituality?

Within all religions we see spirituality. For example, Buddhism teaches its followers to place no importance on theological questions, but, to strive to overcome the factors that cause human suffering. Buddhism is essentially about spiritual practice, meditation and not about a set of intellectual beliefs in a certain path of salvation. Christanity has this same spiritual path. The avatar of Christianity, Jesus Christ taught his disciples to transcend the world and seek the Kingdom of Heaven within.

Over time, all great spiritual teachers have seen their teachings evolve into organised religions, which at times have seemed to have lose the essential spirituality of their teacher's message. But, at the same time, within religion, their have been ardent religious believers who have given all importance to the spiritual quest and to seek the essences of their religion and give little attention to outer forms and outer rituals.