Most people today believe in God or in some mystery greater than them selves. More and more of these believers are deciding not to be identified with a religion. Even though the U.S. population continues to become less “religious,” 70% of North Americans report they believe in a personal God and another 12% believe in a higher power but not a personal God. (American Religious Identification Survey – http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/)
Today there are about 3.6 million non-affiliated believers. Many of these people call themselves “spiritual but not religious seekers.”
I wondered:
What would happen if we offered a safe place for seekers and believers to connect?
What would happen if we gave everyone the same meaningful and time-tested text to engage?
What would happen if we paid serious attention to how the text applied to the real lives of the seekers and believers?
What would happen if a community of believers and seekers discovered the Holy in their lives together? (Learning together http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_learning)
And so hOlybytes was born.
hOlybytes is a place to hear and to tell the good news that the Holy is present and active in all of our lives.
The reason,I believe, that most people consider themselves spiritual and not religious is based in the question of authority. The U.S. was founded on the commitment to individuality and hence the "spirit" of non-authoritation worship as is found in church structure and hierarchy appeals to the masses.
ReplyDeleteThe core or soul belief in some higher power is there in the spiritual masses, but talking with these people you find they cannot articulate exactly what they believe in or why.
because for them "It is what it is."
In a sense, they are more lost than the agnostics and atheists who can articulate and even argue their belief/non-belief system with
adamant conviction, in some cases.
I don't know if getting these groups together would amount to nothing more than a tempest in a teapot,but it would be worth a try. It may prove more frustrating than anticipated,however.