George Carlin was right when he said, “Religion is [feces from a bull].” If you’ve never seen this classic performance, check out the traditional stand-up routine on YouTube next time. You can Google “George Carlin Religion” and you’re sure to find it.

I say George Carlin was onto something, but I won’t completely rule out the validity of religion. Here are two good definitions of religion from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary: (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural; (2): a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices.

The key words for me in these definitions are “supernatural”, “institutionalized” and “attitudes”.

Supernatural means “of or relating to existence outside the natural world,” according to the Free Online Dictionary. The last time I checked, we humans had not achieved a perfect understanding of the nature of ourselves or the universe. Do we have perfect knowledge of our bodies? Where is that elusive cure for cancer? Many diseases of the body are still classified as idiopathic, meaning that they lack a clear cause. How much do we know about black matter? In China, people believed that the Earth was flat until the 17th century. It was not until 330 a. C. that Aristotle revealed observational evidence of a spherical Earth. Since I side with the atheists on the issue of creationism, I’ll concede the point that our planet has clearly been around for well over 6,000 odd years. Seemingly from the dawn of man and continuing to this day, there are still open questions about what constitutes Nature itself. That being the case, how can we get a precise definition of “supernatural” in order to then destroy it? The phrase “existence outside the natural world” seems very slippery to me. Do our dreams count as natural? Seriously, are there a lot of people out there drawing lines around what’s natural? If so…great. I hope you are encouraged.

Obviously, there are many problems with any system that is “institutionalized.” If something is institutionalized, that means that people have created a construct with a set of rules around it and then imposed the construct on a broad group of individuals. Our government is an institution. The Roman Catholic Church… obviously an institution. High schools are institutions. I have to agree with George Carlin on the idiocy of worshiping an institution. People are fallible and all. I’m sure the Pope is a great guy, but…

We are all familiar with the problems caused by our “attitudes”. Once again, it goes back to the fallibility of all. Can you honestly approve 100% of someone’s attitude? For my part, I do not want to serve or worship any attitude. I can see how George Carlin would have had a problem giving money to a guy who claims to have the most powerful “attitude.”

My reason for holding on to the baby while I flush the bathwater of religion is this: The common definition of religion includes, rightly or wrongly, notions of spirituality. Even Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion,” won’t say there is no such thing as spirit. He equates this with denying the existence of fairies or unicorns. Since he does not have definitive proof of the non-existence of the spirit, he logically cannot deny its existence.

How do we get to the ultimate test of the spirit? Some people claim to have sensory proof of spirit. They have seen visions, heard voices, and felt the touch of a non-human force on their bodies. Not all of these people have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Should they be? Who knows? How can we even prove the existence of our consciousness? That has been a topic of philosophical debate ever since philosophers arose. If we’re not even sure how to draw a line around our conscious mind, how can we know for sure that there is no spiritual realm? No intelligent person claims to have this ability, not even Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins!

Many people are afraid to ask questions about spirituality. Many are afraid to venture outside of their given religion. Many are so far removed from religion that the doors of their spirits are permanently closed, or so they think.

I have absolute confidence in my belief in spirit. I also have absolute faith in the Divine. Faith in the divine crosses all generations and all cultures. I believe that we can learn more about ourselves, the natural world, and all other phenomena by opening our minds to all of humanity and focusing on common ground. I am grateful to have many highly educated friends who also believe this way. Some of them are Christian, some are Jewish, some are Muslim, some are Buddhist, and some are Hindu. I can talk about concepts like prayer with all these people. I have experienced visions and heard phrases spoken while meditating. I have had prophetic dreams. I have had psychic experiences. I am not ashamed to admit these things, and why would I be ashamed?

I respect atheism as a belief simply because I find no value in resisting it. I find no value in denying any belief system unless such a system results in harm. It is not for me to say that atheists are harming themselves by closing all spiritual avenues. How will I know what trip they are on? I haven’t walked a mile in your loafers.

If I have one insight to offer here, it is this: No one is alone in their distaste for religion, but that need not stop anyone from following a spiritual path. This idea is far from original.

If you are not on a spiritual path, good for you. If you are, good for you. If religion is blocking your spiritual path, I say… don’t let it.