Throughout history, the terms "Religion" and "Spirituality" have alternated between being interchangeable and opposing. On one hand, some religious individuals may identify themselves as spiritual, but in modern times, this is happening less, as more nonreligious individuals identify as Spiritual. Spiritual, once a synonym of Religious, has come to be a term adoptable by Agnostic, and even Atheist individuals. Although there has been this separation of these terms, there are still many similarities between Religion and Spirituality, such as belief in higher power, practice of ritual, and development of moral principles.
In Religion, a higher power often refers to one or multiple Gods, who watch over us, guide us, and occasionally punish us. These Gods are worshiped as the creators of our human lives and are therefore given praise and gratitude by followers for the gift of life. The modern concept of Spirituality is often associated with belief in a higher power, but not a higher power that is able to be seen or even conceptualized. Spirituality involves the worship of things that are of the Earth, regardless of how said things came about. Spirituality often involves worship of nature and the inter-connectivity between everything in it. Both Religious and Spiritual individuals tend to believe that there exists a divine plan of some sort, whether a God or nature is causing it to happen. This is part of why it's comforting to believe in a higher power—believing that there are reasons behind all events, good and bad, gives us a sense of control.
Ritual is another commonality between Religion and Spirituality. Religious rituals often involve different forms of prayer, and other methods of worship such as singing, dancing and even crying. These rituals can be done alone or in a large group of people and are widely believed to bring us closer to our Gods. Spirituality also involves ritual, more popularly in the forms of yoga and meditation. Meditation is a type of prayer but is less directed than religious prayer. Spiritual individuals can also worship alone or with other individuals.
Arguably the most important part of both Religion and Spirituality is the development and maintenance of moral principles. Religion teaches that there are a set of moral guidelines that must be followed in order to live the best life and receive the best afterlife. Spirituality, on the other hand, allows each individual to decide on their own moral principles. The belief in repercussions for going against these moral principles is another similarity, as most individuals who identify as either believe that they will be punished in some way when they do bad things.
In summation, there are a lot of similarities between Religion and Spirituality. They both promote morals and treating others with the kindness that you, yourself, would want to be treated with. As Religions reform and become more accepting, I hypothesize that Religion and Spirituality will again become synonymous.
