This week was enlightening about the changing tides of religion. My fellow students and I each got a chance to share our family’s religious history and our current affiliations. Two or three other students and I were brought in different Christen denominations and are still practicing those faiths. However, a vast majority of the class was different. Some were still Christen, but questioned certain aspects of their faith and even developed their own ideas to make up for this. Others were raised in atheist or non-religious families and therefore weren’t religious themselves. Some were from religious families but they stopped practicing that faith, and others from non-religious families became religious or spiritual. Finally there were the people who weren’t necessarily religious but considered themselves spiritual. This brings up an interesting topic. There seems to be a developing group of people who are not actually religious nor belong to an established religious organization. Instead they have their own spiritual beliefs they’ve developed on their own. Some debate whether these peoples’ beliefs count as religions themselves or not. This of course depends on how one defines religion, which is another topic of debate. People also say that we’re becoming less religious. However, according to Meredith McGuire’s book she believes that religion itself is not fading away, but the need for established religious organizations, such as the different Christen denominations, is fading away. (McGuire, Pg. 4-5) Therefore, maybe it is fair to say that this developing group of spiritual people are religious in their own way after all.