Almost one-half of Americans under age thirty (46%) believe that “the best religion would be one that borrowed from all religions.” By contrast, only about one-third of people over seventy (31%) think so.

These figures emerge from a new survey of Americans’ attitudes about spirituality sponsored by the New York Times. The Times reported these figures in its Sunday magazine of May 7th.

Given attitudes distrustful of institutions among younger people, their opting for a religion made up of borrowings from all does not come as a great surprise. In fact, many people of all ages seem already to have crossed boundary lines and have adopted practices from religious traditions not their own.

In doing so, some Christians, for example, may have been inspired by spiritual leaders such as the Catholic monk Thomas Merton who journeyed to Asia in order to learn more for his spiritual life from Buddhist monks.

This new openness to different practices and beliefs different from the ones familiar from childhood must be judged admirable. Clearly, it can enrich the lives of individuals and communities of spiritual seekers. It might even promote prospects for peace among nations, at least if you believe that spirituality can influence world politics.

However, this approach runs the risk of watering down religion, of making it a grab-bag of beliefs and practices. Forming a deeply held religion cannot be the same as walking down a cafeteria line and choosing the foods that most make your taste buds salivate.

Borrowing from religions in this way could easily leave a person spiritually superficial. Instead of plumbing the depths of any one heritage, seekers of truth might end up forever roaming about in the world of religious thought and practice without coming to grips with the full richness of any single tradition.

Most masters of the spiritual life, even those sympathetic to a radical openness to the traditions of others, urge us to concentrate on one. The Muslim theologian Seyyed Hossein Nasr, for instance, says: “To cling to one’s own religion – this is the normal situation of humanity.” This he says while at the same time believing that “all religions are true.”

Of course, it would be a mistake to exclude the possibility of conversion from one faith to another. This experience usually results from a long spiritual search and often encourages us to keep searching even more ardently.

This past Easter I took part in celebrating the baptism of a dear friend, Madeline, as she became a Christian. She did so, after much prayer and some agonizing experiences of death among people closest to her. Through a long heal-ing process she discovered Jesus as her main source of spiritual enlightenment.

Her decision to be baptized did not, however, make her think that she was giving up her own Jewish heritage. Rather she felt herself to be bringing to her baptism all that she had learned growing up Jewish.

At the same time, in an intriguing twist, one of her daughters who was brought up Christian was embracing the Jewish faith. Friends and family members joined together in wishing for both mother and daughter inspiration and joy in their new-found faiths.

So, at the risk of appearing unsympathetic toward the majority of young people who favor a religion made up of borrowings, I choose a middle ground. Yes, I would say to youthful seekers, avail yourself of precious elements from traditions not your own. But do not believe that the “à la carte” approach to religion will satisfy your deepest desires.

I myself have profited much from other traditions. But my experience is that, while I come away from experience of other faiths with a broader vision, I feel strengthened in my own faith.

For many years I have felt free to incorporate into my religious practice prayer methods of the Asian religions and American Quakers, for instance, to my own spiritual profit. At the same time, I hold on to the meditation learned from teachers nurtured in my own tradition.

Of course, if you grown up without being gifted with a religious tradition at all, your situation is different and perhaps more complicated. You may then need to explore world religions for yourself. Even there, however, it makes more sense to plumb the depths of one religion rather than rely on mere borrowings.

Richard Griffin