Is Religion the same as Spirituality?

I think you have made a very important point about religion, organized. I think one can be spiritual without joining an organized religion although it probably helps to have like-minded people to talk to.

Yes, but thats the problem..I dont like being around most of the religious people I know becuase no matter what problem comes up they always say "let got take care of it"....no wonder the world is the way it is.....if everyone just sits back and says god will take care of it, than crime, pollution, war and poverty will continue because they dont want to help with the problem because they are waiting for god to look after it! I think this is a very bad and naive way to think!

I don't think it is right to let god take care of it. He has given us everything for us to make a heaven or a hell. When we destroy our home, the planet earth, who is to blame but ourselves? The dodo has become extinct because it never had to contend with a predator like man. It was not a stupid bird, it had no occasion in its existence to deal with predators and it had never had the chance to come in contact with a mindless predator like "man".

The more I think about these things, the less I seem to know and my certainty of yesterday becomes the uncertainty of tomorrow. I would like to know something in this lifetime without having to just rely on some belief system.

WOW... Honestly...I am not sure how to respond...of if you really want a response... What are we if we do not have a belief system? I mean, we have to have some sort of belief system to know what to believe in...what facts we decide to believe...what science we decide to agree with... I know they are facts...but you still have to believe in them - for those facts to matter to you. Does that even make any sense? I am not explaining myself very well... Another thought...or opinion... I would rather live in the uncertainties than live with all the answers. The adventure and the excitement in life are from the uncertainties. Once I have an answer I tend to move on to the next thing...but the uncertainties - they keep me interested...keep me investigating...keep me thinking...keep me moving forward...keep me searching... Maybe I am misunderstanding....or maybe I am just more comfortable with not knowing all the answers. Just a few thoughts... :-)

I find that religious people are pious but not as spiritual as spiritual people. They tend to be bookish about things and are prone to arguments about rites and traditions. I remember a friend of mine who was upset because some of his choir members arrive after prayers and don't pray at all, they just jump right in to the singing. He considered it an "insult" to god. I told him that if the planet Jupiter just shrugged off 21 comet fragments like they were nothing, God wouldn't mind some people being late and missing prayers.

People of like mind tend to congregate for whatever reasons; you suggest social reasons and I might also add economic reasons. I was part of a group who meet in a big way every week and the big businessmen were there being friendly with everybody else. I'm not saying they are there primarily to get an economic edge, being a bro or a sis. I think too that it makes it easier for people to shore up or strengthen their spiritual efforts by being the the company of like-minded people after all, if you keep the company of saints some of that saintliness might rub off on you.

When the Buddha found his enlightenment, he found it while meditating alone. He had left the group of seekers who sacrificed and flagellated themselves because he found those practices to be useless in his quest. His spirituality indeed was of a personal nature and when he found his enlightenment he tried to share it with people but I don't think he set out to organize a religion.

Most of the pioneers of the religions of the worldweren't trying to start a religion. Also most religions do not get their names from within. Its the outsiders looking in which classify them, and label them. The pioneers usually just wanted to share what they found with others because they felt it was something worth sharing.

A holy man once said that religion only takes you so far on your journey towards god. After that, you need spirituality to bring you all the way. He said that religion is necessary to prepare the mind for spirituality.

I do not know if the truly spiritual leaders intended to make a religion. They may have discovered some spiritual truth in their life's journey and the discovery of that truth caused them to want to share that truth hence, the evangelization or propagation of that discovered truth. I think religion comes much later when there are already so many adherents to that discovered truth that some kind of organization is needed to keep things orderly.