The term spiritual does little more than muddy up the waters of what could be a simpler dialog. When we are talking about belief in a god or gods we are necessarily talking about a dichotomy: either you accept the claim "god exists" to be true or you do not. There is no middle ground there is not "stepping stone" on which to rest. Where, for example, is the halfway point between yes and not-yes?
It may help at this point to use a piece of ordinary paper--the kind you use to (sparingly) print from your computer. Now draw a circle on that paper. At the top edge label the paper "Does god exist?" Within the circle write yes. Outside of the circle would be labelled not-yes. Not-yes includes everything that is not yes: maybe, I don't know, I don't care, I'm not sure, I guess so, etc.
I want to use this concept to talk about the idea of spiritual as a "stepping stone" in two ways. First, if one uses spiritual to describe "an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being" then they aren't talking about religion but rather self-discovery. While I still find it useless in this context I will refrain from going into detail on my thoughts about its use here.
The second way I'd like to use the concept of yes and not-yes is in regards to religion. Religion speaks to the belief in a god or gods. Therefore, if someone asks you if you are religious or inquire as to which religion you affiliate yourself and your answer is "I am spiritual" you have not really answered the question. My next question to you would be, "Do you believe in a god or gods?" which would really be a restatement of the first question. In this case there is not middle ground between whether or not one believes in a god(s). Either you believe that a god or gods exist or you do not believe a god or gods exist. Keep in mind that if your answer is ANYTHING but a resounding yes then you are an Atheist.
I would like to talk about what Atheism is in more detail but first I would also like to point out that it has been my experience (tell me if yours is different) that people tend to use the term spiritual almost exclusively in the following phrase: I'm not religious; I'm spiritual. If you have ever said this you are an Atheist. If you've ever spoken with someone who has said this you have spoken with an Atheist.
Contrary to popular belief, Atheism is not the belief that no gods exist. That would be a claim that would need to be supported by evidence. Atheism is the rejection of the claim that a god or gods exist as unsubstantiated by evidence. Imagine I flip a coin and hold it in my fist. Then, I tell you that the coin is facing heads up. I ask if you believe me. If you say "No" are you then saying that you believe the coin is heads down or are you simply saying that you don't have enough evidence to believe my claim?
This is why anything that is not a yes in the above situation is Atheism. If more people understood that this is what Atheism is, nothing more or less, I think the number of Atheists would skyrocket.
I hope that makes my stance on the term spiritual clearer.
Thanks for reading (and commenting!)
Zach
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