In "After Religion" today we spent ten minutes brainstorming the difference between religion and spirituality but it was of course a trick question. After exploring the ways in which the SBNR and some who lament the decline of religion seem to agree about the difference, I reminded the class of one of the claims in our reading:
What is often called spirituality is yet another form that religion assumes under certain historical, social, political, cultural, and economic conditions. (Andrea Jain, Peace Love Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality, 50)
One could quarrel with the argument but the artificial clarity of the religion/spirituality contrast faded quickly, coming to seem more like a polarity within religion than something fundamentally different from it. Maybe we were moving too quickly? A student's reflection helped me appreciate why the religion/spirituality distinction might not mean as much as it used to. "Our parents are Gen X," the student said; "they're all about being spiritual but not religious, but we..."
So maybe at least some of them are "after religion" in the sense of seeking it even in the aftermath of its purported demise. Jain's claim, a cold shower for someone thinking they had left religion behind, might even be comforting to children of the Gen X...!
