Religious Discussion

There are a few friends that I actually like to argue with. My top three would be Jeremy, Grant, and Coley, and probably in that order. Jeremy and I have discussions and bring up different points, often just arguing for the sake or arguing. Grant and I start off doing the same thing, but we eventually end up rubbing it in the other’s face once one of us is determined ‘the winner.’ With Coley, it starts off the same as the others, but we usually have to argue in segments; for some reason we always try to speak over the other one. How rude of us.

Regardless, my latest ‘discussion’ with Coley centered on religion versus spirituality. It all started when Coley recently commented on being ‘blessed’ due to some extra money that came his way – some school refunds and his deposit money from his former apartment complex. Here’s a sample of how the conversation went (over BlackBerry messenger):

Coley: I’m blessed!

Jeff: Ugh – jesus had nothing to do with it.

Coley: EVERYTHING

Jeff: You already paid that money as a deposit (referring to his apartment money) - it’s just a refund – the extra is called ‘interest’ not ‘a blessing’ – Rick helped you with the financial aid, not jesus. I didn’t see jesus crawling up your ass to fill out the forms – maybe jesus blessed you with rick…

Jeff: So many things attributed to jesus that he had nothing to do with

Jeff: Good or bad

Jeff: Which is why I hate religion

My last comment is what got Coley and I ‘discussing.’ Coley stated that he is a spiritual person, not religious. Man made religion, or man is religious. His relationship with God/Jesus is a spiritual one, and that God/Jesus is spiritual, not religious. Coley was very adimit that religion and spirituality were very different and had nothing to do with each other.

My argument was a very ‘technical’ one. It’s not that I don’t understand the spirit of Coley’s argument, nor is it that I don’t agree with it; quite the contrary. I believe there is a difference between being religious and spiritual; my argument stems from the fact that God/Jesus is not religious but spiritual.

I explained to Coley that while I agreed with that concept for God, it did not apply to Jesus. I went on to say that if you refer to Jesus, you are referring to a particular religion, not spirituality; If using Jesus’ name is not a religious reference, one might be thanking Buddha instead. To me, Jesus = Christianity = Religion.

Coley insisted I obviously did not understand the difference between spirituality and religion, and that it might be made clearer to me if I were to check the definitions. Not being afraid of my argument to this point, I looked up the definitions.

religious – concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church; “religious texts”; “a member of a religious order”

spiritual - of or relating to sacred matters; concerned with religious values

So, I don’t know about you, but that exactly clear it all up for me. Additionally, it proved a point that I made earlier in my discussion with Coley; although there is a difference between the two, they are closely related. Again, I agree with Coley, I understand the difference, but one can not deny that they are closely related.

Now, again, the main point of my argument was his use of the name Jesus. Using the name Jesus implies the person speaking his name is a person of the Christian faith. The next part of the argument is a little fuzzy. (And yes, I have switched to the use of the word argument vice discussion, as our voices have elevated and we are constantly interrupting each other.)

Somehow we got into a discussion about how many different religions there are in the world. I argued that there are only 5 major religions in the world. Coley argued that there are hundreds. I rebutted that there are 5 major religions, and that all the others were branches or some other sect of the 5 major religions. As such, I found this article.

If you read this article, I think you will discover that it proves me wrong in one area, but proves the point that I was trying to make from the get-go. The article explains that these are indeed the 5 major religions in the world, but clearly infers that they are not the only religions. (I’m sorry, Coley. I was wrong.) This article summarizes the differences in the 5 major religions. Multiple summaries refer to God, thereby not making the reference to God specific to any one religion. However, the only summary to mention Jesus, Jesus Christ, or any form thereof, is Christianity.

I feel that this completely and accurately proves my point – the use of Jesus is specific to the Christian relgion; as spiritual and non-religious as a person may claim to be, they are still influenced by religion. I know it seems like I am splitting hairs, I admit that. But hey, that’s the definition of being the devil’s advocate.