Spiritual, but In What Way?
Three Ways of Being Spiritual Beyond Traditional Religion

This article was drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI) and subsequently edited, fact-checked, and refined by Dianne Edleman, PhD.

If spirituality matters to you but you don't identify with a particular religious tradition, you may have encountered several terms that seem to describe people like you: spiritual but not religious, spiritually independent, and spiritually progressive.

These expressions overlap, but they aren't interchangeable. Each emerged in somewhat different settings and carries its own implications. Understanding those differences can help us articulate something that is often difficult to put into words: not simply whether we are spiritual, but how we approach spirituality and what we want it to do in our lives.

Spiritual But Not Religious
Of the three terms, “spiritual but not religious” is by far the most widely recognized and researched.

The expression itself has been in use for decades, but it became particularly prominent in American culture during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Scholars of religion have used it to describe people who distinguish spirituality from organized religion, and the term entered widespread public usage as the number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated grew.

Pew Research Center has been studying the distinction for many years. In its large 2023-24 study of American spirituality, Pew classified 22% of U.S. adults as spiritual but not religious.

But there is an important qualification. “Spiritual but not religious” does not necessarily mean religiously unaffiliated. Pew's research has repeatedly found that some people who consider themselves spiritual but not religious nevertheless maintain a religious affiliation. In fact, the category includes people with remarkably diverse beliefs and practices.

The phrase is therefore useful as a broad description, but it doesn't tell us very much about what a person's spirituality actually consists of. It essentially says: “Spirituality matters to me, but traditional religion does not define my spiritual life.”

For some people, that is exactly what they want to say. For others, however, the phrase can feel unsatisfying because it defines them primarily by what they don't belong to.

That concern gave rise to another term.

Spiritually Independent.
The expression “spiritually independent” has a more identifiable origin.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro, a Jewish teacher of interspirituality, popularized the term in his 2013 book Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent. He compared spiritually independent people to political independents: people who are unwilling to limit themselves to one party because they find worthwhile ideas in several traditions.

The idea has subsequently been developed by Spirituality & Practice, the organization founded by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. They describe spiritually independent people as “seekers without borders”—people who look for wisdom in many places rather than accepting the authority of a single religious tradition. Their sources might include the world's religions, science, philosophy, literature, art, nature, psychology, or personal experience.

This gives the term a somewhat different emphasis from “spiritual but not religious.” Spiritual but not religious emphasizes independence from organized religion. Spiritually independent emphasizes freedom to explore.

A spiritually independent person may not reject religion at all. They may read the Bible, practice Buddhist meditation, appreciate Sufi poetry, learn from Indigenous wisdom, walk in nature, and find insights in contemporary psychology—without feeling that accepting one source requires rejecting all the others.

The central question becomes less, "Which tradition do I belong to?" and more, "Where can I find wisdom that helps me live more deeply, compassionately, and authentically?"

Spiritually Progressive.
The third expression, “spiritually progressive,” is more complicated.

Unlike “spiritual but not religious,” it is not a broadly established demographic category. And unlike “spiritually independent,” it does not have one generally accepted definition. It is, however, an established expression in several spiritual communities.

For example, Unity communities frequently describe themselves as “spiritually progressive.” Individual Unity centers use the phrase alongside such terms as “radically inclusive” and “socially responsive,” emphasizing personal spiritual development, openness to wisdom from different traditions, and an inclusive approach to spirituality.

Centers for Spiritual Living also use “spiritually progressive” as part of their self-description, generally in connection with an inclusive, experiential, and practical approach to spirituality.

But there is another, quite distinct use of the term that is important to know about.

The Spiritual Progressives movement.
The phrase “spiritual progressive” has also been closely associated with Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun magazine, and the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

The Network was formally launched in 2005-06 and grew out of the progressive religious and social-justice community surrounding Tikkun. Its conception of spirituality is explicitly connected with social transformation. The organization describes its goal as creating a more loving and just society and replacing what it calls the conventional “bottom line” of money and power with a “New Bottom Line” centered on love, caring, generosity, and concern for people and the Earth.

Lerner's use of “spiritual progressive” therefore means considerably more than having an evolving or eclectic personal spirituality. It encompasses a social and ethical vision: the conviction that our institutions and public life should be evaluated partly by whether they promote compassion, justice, ecological responsibility, and human flourishing.

This is an important distinction because someone who encounters the phrase “spiritual progressive” may associate it with that social-justice tradition.

At the same time, the phrase is used more broadly in contemporary spiritual communities. A person might call herself spiritually progressive simply because she is open to new understandings of spirituality, draws on multiple traditions, questions inherited beliefs, and regards spiritual development as an ongoing process.

That latter meaning is close to what many people today might intuitively understand by the term—but it is not the only established meaning.

So Which Term Fits?
Perhaps the easiest way to distinguish the three is to think of them as answering different questions.

There is considerable overlap. A person can easily be all three.

Someone might say: “I am spiritual but not religious because I don't belong to a religious tradition. I'm spiritually independent because I draw wisdom from many traditions. And I'm spiritually progressive because I don't consider my spiritual understanding finished; I'm open to learning, changing, and discovering new ways of understanding the sacred.” Another person might identify with only one of those descriptions.

That is precisely why the distinctions can be useful. Labels are not the point; greater self-understanding is. The words we use can invite us to ask deeper questions:

There is no single correct answer to these questions. Spirituality is not a multiple-choice test.

For some people, “spiritual but not religious” will remain the clearest and most recognizable description. Others may find that “spiritually independent” better captures their freedom to draw wisdom from many sources. Still others may resonate with “spiritually progressive” because they experience spirituality as something that continues to evolve—or because they understand spiritual values as having implications for the wider world.

Perhaps the most important thing is to discover what your spirituality actually means to you. The label can come afterward.