Religionless Spirituality claims that neither religion nor materialistic science satisfies the ache of the human heart for meaning or significance. We have experienced wonderful progress through the advances of science. Unfortunately, our achievements in many respects have become our atrocities. Since the Enlightenment, mechanistic science has insisted that it is only through reason that we can objectively prove anything, thereby excluding all subjective experience. This is the predominant paradigm by which capitalism and materialism prevail. Modern society has almost completely adopted this model. Because of this near total embrace, the environment of the human habitat is becoming more and more threatened. Through this model we infer that infinite growth can fit into a finite world. The ego is catered to as a consequence, but our spirit grows ever more impoverished. What use is verification by the human eye if the subjective experience of sight is excluded? Science explains but tells us nothing of experience. We need a spirit of transcendence, something that lies beyond matter, to explain the human construct. This is where spirituality enters. Religion, for its own ends, has politicized spirituality and co-opted for power and control. Individually, spirituality calls us to reclaim the birthright of God's divinity alive within each of us. True spirituality calls us to look to the power within. True spirituality belongs to each individual. We must adopt a new paradigm, decontaminate ourselves from organized religion, and see our own individual divinity.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous provides a spiritual program dramatically distinct from religion. Twelve Step spirituality is based on experience, not doctrine; it is pragmatic, focusing on what works and not on theory; it is centered in a community that is inclusive, welcoming all who desire to stop drinking; it seeks rigorous honesty even when that honesty involves painful questioning; and it centers upon service to the still suffering alcoholic. The power found in working the Steps is transformational, moving participants from despair to hope, from self-focused resentment to concern for others, and from angry efforts to control to gratitude for gifts received. It works for atheists and agnostics, secularists and free thinkers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other faiths. At a time when more and more people identify themselves as spiritual but not religious and the traditional religious institutions are in decline in Western culture, Twelve Step spirituality provides insights that can assist in the renewal and reinvigoration of our churches, synagogues, and mosques. In our time of dramatic social polarization, it can provide a foundation for bridging differences. Largely unknown outside the recovery community, this book examines how this transformative program can be relevant to today.

Essays on various facets of Nursi’s spirituality as portrayed in his Risale-i Nur.

In these perilous times when the very survival of the human species is at stake, there is a desperate need for wisdom to provide guidance. The sacred literature of the world's major religious traditions is a source for such wisdom, but it has largely been misinterpreted and misunderstood, and, thus, instead of being a source for wisdom, it has been a source for confusion and conflict. The ancient scriptures, for the most part, were written in a language which is quite different from ordinary language. It is a mythological language, which is symbolic, and therefore its meaning is hidden. In the Bible, for example, there are many narratives that appear to be historical, but they are history that has been mythologized, and therefore their surface meaning is not their real meaning. Clyde Edward Brown clearly illustrates that the correct interpretation of the world's religious texts would lead to a different concept of religion. Instead of belief in the literal truth of texts that have been misinterpreted, the emphasis would be on having those religious values, such as social and economic justice, which are common to all religions.

Discover the difference between feelings and emotions, the disparity between truths and facts, and the countless benefits of mindful living. When his pursuit of happiness in Corporate America feels counterproductive, Timber Hawkeye escapes the flourescent-lit hell of his cubicle in Seattle and sets out to fully embrace the stress-free lifestyle of Hawaii. Intrigued and curious about what people believe (and why they believe what they do), he questions everything he ever thought was true and discovers the beauty of letting go. If you consider yourself spiritual but not religious, then you're going to love this inspirational book. And if you want to lead a simple and uncomplicated life with happiness at your fingertips, then you'll want to read this page-turner more than once! "It's not that I'm against religion, I simply don't have one (nor do I believe that we need it to be ethical). My faith is doctrine-free, with a definition of God that doesn't conjure a white man in the sky who dispenses blessings for good behavior and harsh judgments to condemn the bad. That's because I don't believe God does that; religion does. You see, faith is a spiritual practice of continually letting go of certainty, of ego, and of the underlying need to know, while religion is a ceremonial tradition of hanging on, clinging to concrete dogmas, stubborn rigidity, and ageless rituals."

"Don't be so judgmental!" "Why are Christians so intolerant?" "Why can't we just coexist?" In an age in which preference has replaced morality, many people find it difficult to speak the truth, afraid of the reactions they will receive if they say something is right or wrong. Using engaging stories and personal experience, Edward Sri helps us understand the classical view of morality and equips us to engage relativism, appealing to both the head and the heart. Learn how Catholic morality is all about love, why making a judgment is not judging a person's soul, and why, in the words of Pope Francis, "relativism wounds people." Topics include: • Real Freedom, Real Love • Sharing truth with compassion • Why "I disagree" doesn't mean "I hate you"

Is the Western world really post-Christian, or does Christianity simply need a reinterpretation? What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer mean by "religionless Christianity"? Is it passŽ? Or was it perhaps ahead of its time? In an era of dramatically increased religious pluralism and the emergence of large numbers of people identifying as "spiritual but not religious," so-called "religionless Christianity" can speak to those who find both biblicism and "belief-based" religion irrelevant. In this personal, witty, and timely book, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Cathcart takes readers on a journey into belief and unbelief and leads them through to the other side. Drawing from deep philosophical and theological wells, There Is No God and Mary Is His Mother demonstrates the meaningfulness of being a Christian in a secular age. Cathcart shows that, even absent traditional theological formulas and doctrines, Christianity can be a credible, meaningful, and practical means of negotiating worldly existence and experience. For Christians, There Is No God and Mary Is His Mother offers encouragement. For ex-Christians, it presents a different way of being a Christian than the one they've rejected. For atheists, it shows how Christianity can be an ally in affirming the here and now. Religionless Christianity is possible and desirable wherever and whenever it awakens personal and social transformation.