But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value. Karen Armstrong
Last year I had the opportunity to travel to Iona on the west coast of Scotland with some of my family. It was a time for me to share with them the roots of my own faith. One of my daughters said to me after experiencing Iona: “As you know, I am “spiritual but not religious”; she then added: “but this was a very spiritual place, it was as if God was standing beside you.” What she had experienced was what many call the spirituality of presence on this ancient rock.
We are told that we in British Columbia are Spiritual, but not Religious. I have always wondered how that was lived out in folks’ lives.
How do those folk who are spiritual but not religious practice this lifestyle? What kind of character and conduct is a reflection of being an SBNR? In our church this year I believe we have seen an inspiring event, which reveals the character and conduct of those who are SBNR.
There is a statement that comes from the Iona Community in Scotland, which tells a deep truth and always gives me hope. I believe that it also reflects a deep reality of what it means to be human: “We affirm with people everywhere that God’s goodness at the heart of humanity is planted more deeply than all that is wrong.”
We, as Anglicans have been working for the last five years in bringing refugees from Syria. We have also been working with resentment of those refugees for the last 30 years. We have a certain level of expertise in this work.
But when the world first saw little Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach, folk responded with an outpouring of support for all Syrian refugees. This response continues in many of our island communities and beyond. Their character and their conduct are obvious as they respond with compassion and care in the giving of themselves and their resources.
Religious people have a lot to learn from those who confess to not being religious. It is not from creedal statements or doctrines that the SBNR respond, but out of a deep-seated compassion, planted more deeply than all that is wrong.
As we move into this New Year we will hear stories of bad people and evil events. Let us make sure that we respond, not with fear, but with the goodness planted within humanity, and the reality that it is always the dominant story of us all. I am so very hopeful that my daughter is spiritual but not religious. Because it is in her and others who bring compassion to our world that I see the possibility in 2016 to move from retribution and revenge to a life of healing and reconciliation.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Right Reverend Logan McMenamie is the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of British Columbia
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, HERE
*This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist on Saturday, January 9 2015
