"In much of the modern developed
world ‘religion’ can no longer be
equated with familiar mainstream
church and denominational forms but
takes on a plurality of guises that render
the boundaries between religion and
non-religion bewilderingly fuzzy.”
Malcolm Hamilton (2005) The Sociology of Religion, p13
"Whereas previously, men and women were able to
draw upon a Christian-centred culture to find
guidance about how they should behave, and how
they should think about their lives, from the 1960’s
a suspision of creeds arose that quickly took the
form of a rejection of Christian tradition and all
formulaic constructions of the individual.”
Callum Brown (2001) The Death of Christian Britain p193
"Human history is not a morality play in which
the good are rewarded and the evil punished,
but a struggle for salvation, enlightenment,
progress, or community in which many, indeed
most of the participants have been and are
caught up in tragic conflicts and dilemmas”
Talcott Parsons (1978), Action Theory and the Human Condition, The Free Press, Macmillan Publishers, p262
"Life’s truth is in the moment…
I am a Buddhist, and I am a Jew…”
Sylvia Boorstein Spirituality in the 3rd Age.
Religion is an organized system of beliefs,
practices, rituals, and symbols designed
(a) to
facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent
(God, higher power, or ultimate truth/reality) and
(b) to foster an understanding of one’s relationship
and responsibility to others living in a community.
Spirituality is the personal quest for
understanding answers to ultimate truth questions
about life, about meaning, and about relationships
to the transcendent, which may (or may not) lead to
or arise from the development of religious rituals
and the formation of community.
Religion |
Spirituality |
| Community Focused |
Individualistic |
| Observable and measurable |
Less visible or measurable |
| Objective |
More subjective |
| Formal, Orthodox, organised |
Less formal, organised or systematic |
| Bahaviour oriented |
Emotionally oriented |
| Outward practices |
Inwardly directed |
| Authoritarian in terms |
Non authoritarian of behaviours |
| Doctrine seperating good from evil |
Unifying, not doctrine oriented |
From Handbook of Religion and Health, OUP, 2001
| Meaning |
making sense of life situations; deriving purpose from existence |
| Existential |
searching for personal means within one’s life, death, and
concerns about freedom and isolation |
| Transcendence |
appreciation of dimension beyond self; creating ability to
rise above ‘here and now; experience |
| Connecting |
relationships and communication with self, others, environment,
higher power, the sacred |
| Becoming |
links to identity, personal growth, through reflection on life
experience |
| Coping |
means of using or developing strategies in critical life events;
achieving inner peace |
| Spirituality |
the search for existential or ultimate meaning within a life
experience, such as illness. (This belief usually refers to a power other than
the self, which people may or may not describe as God, higher power, or
forces within nature, and with which they communicate. The power helps the
person to transcend the here and now, re-establish hope and the ability to
cope) |
| Religion |
is an expression of spiritual belief through a framework of rituals,
codes, and practices; the sense of otherness or a power being a deity of
supreme being |
| Philosophical |
relates to the same searching, but with a rejection of any
influential power external to the self |
“Spirituality is the outward expression of
the inner workings of the human spirit."
(Swinton, p20)
"For an adequate understanding of spirituality it is
necessary to consider: first, the human need for
ultimate meaning in each person, whether this is
fulfilled through relationship with God, or from
some sense of ‘other’; or whether some other
sense of meaning becomes the guiding force
within the individual’s life. Secondly, every human
spirituality involves relationships with others.
Spirituality is a part of every human being."
MacKinlay, Ellor & Pickard (2001) Ageing, Spirituality & Pastoral Care.
"Spirituality’ is a slippery word, one that is both difficult
to define with precision and subject to a wide variety of
understandings. In many circles today, it is associated
with vague feelings of purposefulness or serenity and
disassociated from religion, especially from religious
community. Even in religious environments, however, ‘Spirituality’ is often understood as vague emotion
without substantive content, or as an experiences that
can neither be validated nor challenged."
Gorman, 2001, (quoted in Bash 2003 The Emperors New Clothes.
“Alongside a developing evidence base, there remains a
debate over language. Do we talk about religious care, spiritual
care or a combination of the two? Religious care alone values
peoples structured belief systems and is of relevance to people
from minority backgrounds but excludes people who would not
wish to describe themselves as religious. Whereas relying only
on the descriptor of spiritual care excludes people who would
consider themselves religious and value the structure of their
belief system. Perhaps the central driver to this debate is the
way that it goes to the very core of the participant, when we
write, talk, or research about religion or spirituality we are
entering the territory of belief from which we cannot exclude
ourselves as it communicates with the core of our own values,
hopes and meaning.”
(Merchant, 2006)
"My culture is an important part of my identity, of ME. My health
values and beliefs are a product of my cultural upbringing (my
primary culture) as well as my cultural negotiation with the culture
of the host country (my secondary culture) I found myself living in
as a young adult. My values and beliefs are not static but continue to
be modified as both my primary and secondary cultures change with
time. Thus to ignore my culture when providing nursing care to me,
is to ignore ME.”
Dr. Rena Papadoupolus The Papdopoulus, Tilki and Taylor model for the
development of cultural competence in nursing. Journal of Health, Social and
Environmental Issues (2003) Vol 4, No 1.
Recommendations from Bell et al –
Alzheimer’s Quarterly 2002.
• Enable the person to be connected
• To be respected and appreciated
• Value the Person
• Celebrate the person’s religious heritage
• Embrace simplicity
• Nourish your own spiritual life
• Give spiritual care throughout the illness
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