Title: Spirituality
Course: REL 201 RTZ > Section: Week 1 - Introductions, Introductions to the Course and Introductions to Religion

As your read earlier there are inherent biases in the study of religion.  No matter how much you try you will always have some sort of bias when viewing any culture – yours or someone else’s.  These biases may be positive or negative. In either case we must remain cognizant of these biases as we continue on our study of religion.  This is also applicable when we try to define the word spirituality.

Spirituality, like religion, is very elusive and difficult to define because it has so many meanings to so many people around the world.  We will work out a working definition for this course but keep in mind that that definition will change from course to course, from instructor to instructor and person to person.

As we attempt to define spirituality we are keeping in mind that the definition of religion has nine key criteria with community being one of those elements.  Community denotes a sense of organization.

Spirituality is often used either as a synonym for religion.  This is a problem since many spiritual people are not members of an organized religion.  Can someone who is spiritual fit in the definition of religion?  Yes and no.  Yes because you can be spiritual and belong to an organized religion. On the other hand you can be spiritual and not belong to a religious community.

Spirituality can be driven by the individual, influenced by one or more religions or driven by a religion.  Spiritual people may choose to participate in rituals aof other groups or create their own rituals.  Spirituality be shared amongst people or an individual experience that is kept private.

For all purposes of this course we will view spirituality as being fluid and unique to an individual based on their personal interpretation. We will observe how people are spiritual within religious communities that we will discuss in this class.