The idea of a one true religion is a stumbling block for many spiritual seekers who don’t understand the difference between spirituality vs religion. 

Most of us belong to a religion, and we feel so strongly about our religion that we argue and create conflict with friends and family members who do not have the same beliefs as we do. In some cases, we separate ourselves, even banishing family members from our homes and the family unit. 

I had my first taste of this kind of bias when my daughter began dating a young man from a different religion while she was in high school. 

Needless to say, this dating situation was a well-kept secret from the boyfriend’s parents who had banished his uncle from the family for not having the same religious beliefs as they did. 

The relationship went fairly well in the beginning but as Christmas rolled around during the dating process, the boyfriend’s parents ran into my daughter and their son in the mall.

So, what’s the problem you ask? No problem except they were both wearing Santa Claus hats. Since this particular religion did not believe in Christmas, and since these parents were not going to banish their son, they did the next best thing. They assembled the elders of the church and tried to pray away the witch who was leading their son astray. 

My daughter. The witch. Capable of assembling an angry mob. Wow. 

Thank God this was a different time period and the place was not Salem, Massachusetts, or my sixteen-year-old would have been burned at the stake. 

Spirituality vs Religion. It seems we are still working through the concept as a species. To understand the concept of a one true religion and to understand the difference between spirituality vs religion we should go back to where religion started. It’s important to note that religion was not created by God, Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, or any other deity. It was created by man as a means to connect with the divine. 

The exact time when humans first practiced religion remains unknown, however, research in evolutionary archaeology shows credible evidence of religious behavior from around 45-200 thousand years ago. 

Somewhere along the way within the formation of certain sects of world religions came the doctrine of  Religious exclusivism, a belief that only one particular religion or belief system is true.[1] The opposite of this principle is religious pluralism, which holds that all religions provide valid responses to the existence of God.[2]

With ideals that promote exclusivity and superiority, we can understand that fighting for the “one true religion” isn’t new. In some of the more extreme cases countries go to war. This is how it has always been from the beginning of time. Fighting for the belief in a one true religion in order to maintain superiority over the masses. 

So why fight? Really? What do we hope to gain by going to war? We know that a religious war or holy war is a war primarily caused or justified by differences. These wars are all fought in the name of God. 

The experts say that a “Holy War” refers to war that is fought for religion, against adherents of other religions, to promote religion through conversion.

Let me say that again. Conversion.

This has very little to do with spirituality. This is about a power struggle. It’s about our baser instinct to control the will of others. 

Yes, we believe that it is indeed our responsibility as humans to help our Creator run the planet in a religious manner, and it is indeed our job to make sure that the praise and glory go to the Creator as we see fit based on the religion to which we belong.

Of course, we can never be wrong in our beliefs because we belong to the one true religion which means we have a monopoly on God and we know that we are right because we follow the guidelines of our one true religion that was invented by man. 

The sanctity of God has been used to justify almost any cruelty, from burning heretics and stoning adulterers to crucifying Jesus himself. From the earliest days of Israel’s existence as a people, holy war was a sacred institution, undertaken as a cultic act of a religious community.

One True Religion Wars that span a Generation Have Nothing to Do with Spirituality.

The longest holy war the Thirty Years War was a series of wars fought by European nations for various reasons, overwhelmingly for religious purposes, with countries being drawn into war to defend the sanctity of one religion or another. The war lasted from 1618 to 1648 and started as a battle among the Catholic and Protestant states that formed the Holy Roman Empire. By the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war.

With all this war…how does anyone find the time to question the difference between spirituality vs religion? Until the masses understand the difference between spirituality vs religion, and we learn who we truly are and what is really important this is how we will continue to experience our world. 

The Real Difference Between Spirituality vs Religion. 

Many of us think that religion and spirituality are the same things, so we hold on to our beliefs and prejudices about religion mistaking them for spirituality. Though all religions emphasize spirituality as being part of faith, trust me, you can be spiritual without being religious, and you can be highly religious without connecting to the truth of your divine nature or purpose.

So here is the truth about spirituality vs religion. Religion as beautiful as it can be is often expressed through the adherence to specified man-made beliefs and rules that are often dictated by cultural experiences and observances. It is about following rituals and procedures to worship God. 

Spirituality has been defined as a broad concept with room for many perspectives. But if you ask me, spirituality by contrast is about finding one’s path and purpose and one’s true self. When we discover that we are spiritual beings occupying a human body, having a human experience, we are able to connect with our inner divine nature and uncover our power of purpose and who we truly are in the scheme of the universe.

We can recognize that contrast in beliefs is what separates us, but love is what brings us together in oneness. We learn to let go of the need to usurp the will of others and find tolerance and compassion for those who have different beliefs from us.  

In short, spirituality includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, namely our creator, the source of all life and love, all mercy and compassion, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience—something that touches us all.

Understanding Spirituality vs Religion Can Lead You to Discard The Concept of One True Religion

When we are blinded by our religion we may never find our spirituality which leads us back to the creator, the source of all things. In this manner we go to war with each other, we go to war with other nations, we criticize each other’s religions, we become enemies with friends and family members forgetting that our first priority on the planet is LOVE which compasses everything and is the positive that moves us forward to embark on our spirituality and to become one with the creator.

Ask yourself this one important question about your religion. Is your one true religion hampering your spiritual growth? Those of us who are so blinded by our religion, blinded by man-made ideals, may never find our way back to true spirituality if we don’t begin to reflect on our inner compass. But if we can chip away at our base human natures and focus on our spiritual selves we will be following a path that empowers our spiritual growth and leads us to the truest forms of love and our Creator.