You can't live in this country either without learning those 'basics'. But wtf is Judaeo-Christian culture? I presume it refers to the Old Testament and a particular part of the Middle East - which are also part of Islamic culture (e.g Abraham). The whole point about Jesus was that he was supposed to make a radical break from Judaism. There was a time when people in the west spoke more about Semitic culture, from which christianity was quite distinct (all those medieval paintings that made JC look distinctly non-semitic). I was in Naples last year. It is a city with a history of over 2,500 years. In the land of the Catholic Pope, there is magic and superstition in Naples that has nothing at all to do with Judaeo-Christianity. What is Judaeo-Christian about Filipino Catholicism or Mexican for that matter? In short I think the whole definition of J-Xity is one of those historical legends that has been developed ex-post to explain and justify what is essentially a preposterous belief system.
Ok. While I'm offending your friends, let's ask what is this 'spirituality' that people seem to need. Religion and magic both come from historically existing cultures in which people tried to understand something they didn't understand (and we still don't understand). So humans invented gods etc and 'intelligent design' so that there was something to which they could refer in order to answer the Big Questions (why are we here? where do we fit into the scheme of things? and, most importantly, from where do we get our intelligence, that which enables us to plan, design, manufacture, etc that other animals do not have?). Most religions (maybe all?), on account of the last question, place humans in a special relation with god and the cosmos. The point being that humans are definitely not some random genetic mutation.
The term 'spirituality' in modern usage seems to refer to some special quality of communing with god, the universe or whatever. For which you apparently require some kind of religion or other. I find this totally offensive. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean that I cannot stand under the stars and experience a complete sense of awe, beauty and incomprehensibility. Why do I have to lay my house out according to the laws of Feng Shui (magic) in order to have a sense of being a part of this enormous universe? Of course there are things humans cannot control - our brains are too finite and stupid. Why should that bother us? Why can't we just get on with doing what we can do - trying to make our society better.
Further, I think that 'spirituality' in the modern world (America, Australia, etc) is a manifestation of the extreme individualism that capitalism has driven us to - pure selfishness if you like. "I have my saviour and the devil take the rest of you." (saviour being broadly defined to include whatever 'spiritual belief' turns you on). This is especially true in the later manifestations of capitalism - consumerism - in which we a free to choose our own version of 'spirituality' in the same way that we choose a new car. There is no 'community' any longer to tell us what we have to believe on pain of excommunication and/or eternal damnation. This kind of 'spirituality' is therefore anti-community. Although you might find a 'community' of like-minded 'spiritualists', you effectively cut yourself off from people who have a different 'spirituality' - even if (or especially if?) they are the next door neighbour. Instead of being part of a real community (which necessarily squabbles) you have to invoke a creed of 'tolerance' in order to be able to live next door to each other. But you're not sharing each other's world.
In short, one of my missions in life is to try to dissuade people from their 'spirituality'. Mission Impossible! :( Unfortunately, most of them find my views offensive. The argument usually ends up with 'let's agree to disagree' (impossible from my point of view) or 'I don't care what you think, I know'.
rant
Ok. While I'm offending your friends, let's ask what is this 'spirituality' that people seem to need. Religion and magic both come from historically existing cultures in which people tried to understand something they didn't understand (and we still don't understand). So humans invented gods etc and 'intelligent design' so that there was something to which they could refer in order to answer the Big Questions (why are we here? where do we fit into the scheme of things? and, most importantly, from where do we get our intelligence, that which enables us to plan, design, manufacture, etc that other animals do not have?). Most religions (maybe all?), on account of the last question, place humans in a special relation with god and the cosmos. The point being that humans are definitely not some random genetic mutation.
The term 'spirituality' in modern usage seems to refer to some special quality of communing with god, the universe or whatever. For which you apparently require some kind of religion or other. I find this totally offensive. Just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean that I cannot stand under the stars and experience a complete sense of awe, beauty and incomprehensibility. Why do I have to lay my house out according to the laws of Feng Shui (magic) in order to have a sense of being a part of this enormous universe? Of course there are things humans cannot control - our brains are too finite and stupid. Why should that bother us? Why can't we just get on with doing what we can do - trying to make our society better.
Further, I think that 'spirituality' in the modern world (America, Australia, etc) is a manifestation of the extreme individualism that capitalism has driven us to - pure selfishness if you like. "I have my saviour and the devil take the rest of you." (saviour being broadly defined to include whatever 'spiritual belief' turns you on). This is especially true in the later manifestations of capitalism - consumerism - in which we a free to choose our own version of 'spirituality' in the same way that we choose a new car. There is no 'community' any longer to tell us what we have to believe on pain of excommunication and/or eternal damnation. This kind of 'spirituality' is therefore anti-community. Although you might find a 'community' of like-minded 'spiritualists', you effectively cut yourself off from people who have a different 'spirituality' - even if (or especially if?) they are the next door neighbour. Instead of being part of a real community (which necessarily squabbles) you have to invoke a creed of 'tolerance' in order to be able to live next door to each other. But you're not sharing each other's world.
In short, one of my missions in life is to try to dissuade people from their 'spirituality'. Mission Impossible! :( Unfortunately, most of them find my views offensive. The argument usually ends up with 'let's agree to disagree' (impossible from my point of view) or 'I don't care what you think, I know'.