Did anyone catch Sam Harris on CSpan2 earlier?

[mandyky]

He wrote a book called The End of Faith. I enjoyed his talk quite a bit. He has scorn for religious dogma, and apparently he is an equal opportunity critic of religion, esp Muslim, Jewish, and Christianity (esp fundamnetalists).

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. haven't read it

but I think there is a difference between religion and spirituality.

[clydefrand]

2. What is the difference between the two, please, as you see them.

[mandyky]

3. Spirituality contains little dogma

Religion is full of fear, guilt, dogma etc. (esp organized Western monotheistic religions)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. In religion, often

barriers are put up to differentiate one religion from another. The emphasis is on form. Spirituality is experience, and very easily crosses boundaries from one religion to another. I've done spiritual practices with rabbis and imams and pagans and monks and nuns all in the same room, all doing the same practice. No problems, because we were going for the experience.

When a group of Sufis met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, they asked him the difference between Sufism and Buddhism. His Holiness answered: "In Buddhism, nothing is. In Sufism, everything is. Same thing, no difference." This, to my mind, is a great way of explaining spirituality.

[Maat]

4. I call my faith 'my religion' only because people back off when I refer to

it that way.

I normally attend Church of Religious Science, but occasionally I'm able to visit the Unitarian-Universalist congregation about 45 minutes away.

I really have a belief system, which is the #2 definition of religion in my dictionary.

What do I practice? Spirituality.

How do I refer to it? As 'religion,' or as 'my faith,' and that way the other person says 'Oh!' very seriously, and stops attempting to prosletize to me (usually a RRR-er of the Radical Religious Right).

But the points here are well-taken.