It saddens many of us theologically and historically educated Catholic Christians to hear and see many young and other under-educated people confusing others on the topics of religion and spirituality. 

The new anti-religion sentiment is encapsulated in various phrases like,

"I hate religion but love God/Jesus"

"I don't need religion to have a relationship with God."

"I'm spiritual but not religious."

The sadness underlying the confusion is not even knowing what the term "religion" means or what it is in the first place.

Furthermore, since "religion" means "relationship", and since it is a religion that informs us as to Who the "Spiritual Being" is that we want to know, religion logically precedes true spirituality.

So when someone says, "I don't need religion to have a relationship with Christ" what they are saying is the illogical, "I don't need relationship to have a relationship with Christ."

And when a person says, "I’m spiritual but not religious" what they are really saying is nothing at all, or at the most, they’ll offer vague terms that we all agree upon anyway, such as "love your neighbor". And yet, this is a teaching of Jesus Christ as found within the New Testament as written by the Apostles (the first bishops of the Catholic Church) and codified by the Catholic Church over 1,600 years ago back when there was only one authoritative Church.

Justin S. Steele holds a Bachelor and Master of Theology degrees from Newman University.
Steele is also the author of Praying Made Me Catholic: With the Biblical & Historical Reasons I Must Remain Catholic