"Being Spiritual But Not Religious: Values, Virtues, and Compassionate Living"

Over the past two decades, a series of public surveys highlight a steady decrease in religious participation (42% in 2000–2003 to 30% in 2021–2023, Gallup) and corresponding rise of the religiously unaffiliated (28% of the American population, Pew). Uniquely, these trends correlate with heightened interest in spirituality. While religious membership or affiliation might be down, seven out of ten U.S. adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way, with at least 22% of Americans describing themselves as spiritual but not religious (Pew). As practitioners, scholars, and everyday people struggle to understand what all this means, a common response among the religious is to deny the ethical coherency of the spiritual but not religious, suggesting that spirituality without religion is vapid at best, downright dangerous at the extremes. This talk intervenes by exploring spirituality as a vital component of humanity, as the ways individuals encounter and enact their shared humanness. Derived from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, spirituality, in whatever form it takes, emerges as an essential factor for navigating human existence. Addressing various ways humans find meaning, locate purpose, and establish belonging, spirituality, as this talk concludes, articulates approaches to virtuous living, orients self-awareness, and explains our compassionate connection to one another.

Dr. Morgan Shipley is the Inaugural Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. His research focuses on mystical and esoteric new religions that highlight spirituality as opposed to institutional religiosity, individuals and groups who increasingly identify as spiritual but not religious, and the nature and manifestations of secular spirituality.

This event is sponsored by the Mauthe Center, and is free and open to the public.