Religious Bubble In America

Religion is complex. There is no way around it. And while there are many reason to help us explain this, the reasons we face in the contemporary, are in my opinion, some of the most valuable and overarching.
Living in a world so interconnected has many consequences. While many of these consequences were overwhelmingly positive, some have had adverse effects on human spirituality. Being introduced to countless religions, diverse ideas, and lifestyles has created this overwhelming religious bubble in the United States. A bubble that has not only overwhelmed many away from organized religion, but a bubble that has encircled the idea of organized religion into triviality. Today in the United States, around twenty seven percent of Americans identify as spiritual, but not religious. This trend displays more than an impressive shift away from churches. The Pew Research Center, a leading statistics center, noted a nine percent increase in the last five years alone. Americans are flocking
away their churches and they are doing it quickly. According to Father Ronald Rolheiser, a renowned Catholic scholar and contemporary theologian, the retreat away from religious communities is devastating to our spiritual journeys. To foster a healthy spiritual life, Father Rolheiser urges those who displace the value of religious communities to reconsider a path that follows his four pillars. These pillars are: private prayer, which is an active connection with God through our prayer life, social justice, which is the devotion to those around us which is rooted in Jesus’ mission, mellowness of heart and spirit, which is the control our motivations, and the involvement with a concrete community, which urges lay people to assimilate into a community where searching for God can be done in way that both public and personal. It is then, that he argues we will fully be immersed in our spiritual life. Personally I reject the concept of being connected to any power that is not my own.
Consequently, Father Rolheiser’s pillars are utterly irrelevant to me. I have no prayer life because I don’t need one. However social justice is an extremely important concept to me. Being an active member in my own community, I attempt to take any chance I get to serve by participating in our school's student council, volunteering , and by participating in a Minneapolis Art Council. Although I try to have good intentions, I am often mislead by my own motivations. Sometimes I wish I could let something go. Although I do not affiliate with a religious community, I do consider myself very connected to progressive and ethical communities. I participate in cultural dialogue, denounce racism and bigotry comments, and challenge those who wish to subjugate marginalized groups of people by protesting and by being vocal. Though I am not religious, I do see myself in many Father Rolheiser’s pillars
regardless.