What makes a person 'religious'? How do we define this? What makes a person 'spiritual'? How do we define this? Are these two the same?

(Another topic from PushBarToOpen).

I would actually like to hear other people's opinions ont this before i answer the question. But i would also like to ask how would you define me.

I don't belive in a god (or any other flying spagetti monster type thing)
I do not follow any of the bibles teachings intentionally
I like to make up my own mind on what is ok to do and what isn't
I attend Church Once a year (Rememberance Sunday)
I pray on average once a week (communally in a youth group)
I am an adult helper at a religius institution for children.

So What would you classify me as? Is religion and spirituality really that easy to paint someone with?

Who are you praying to?

Specifically to God (the prayer starts Dear God)

But you don't believe in God. How can you pray to someone you don't believe in? Or are you just saying the prayer out loud while in your head you're thinking of something else?

the Prayer is chanted ut aloud. i say the words each week in the group. I believe the words that are said. these are mostly about how people should strive to be the best they can. It is aimed at god by the wording but that doesn't mean i can't have my own intepritaion of it.

I guess if I were pinned down on it, I'd say spirituality is something about belief in the supernatural (though not 100% on that, I don't tend to think of it as 'belief' in quite the same way as religion, so I'm probably missing something in the definition already), and being religious is about believing in the supernatural in such a way that you act 'religiously' about it.  When people say, "I'm not religious," I tend to take it to mean "I don't believe in any religion,", though I suppose sometimes people may mean it more to reflect their actions, sort of a "I believe it, but I don't go to church," thing.

In answer to your question, from your brief description, it's not what I would call a religious (since you don't believe in God) person, but in some ways you're acting religious, which kind of confuses things because we're using the same word for two slightly different meanings.

Spirituality is a tough word. It seems to me to be more of a feeling than a belief; (as an example) when you take in the grandeur of a quiet, impressive natural scene, the emotion can come over you. You feel spiritual, even if you don't know how to express it in words or beliefs.

Feel free to dis this. I'm not attached to it. I'm fumbling around in the dark.