“Janet Taylor” is an admirable person who wants to become what she calls “a self-actualized human being.” By that term she means a person who takes spirituality seriously and relies on herself to achieve growth in spirit. The religious tradition of her upbringing was vague and inadequate and in the effort to find herself, during her years in college, she read widely and experimented with various spiritual disciplines

Janet’s fictitious name stands for a real person described in a new book “Finding Your Religion”  by Rev. Scotty McLennan, Tufts University chaplain. He owes some of his reputation to the comic strip “Doonesbury” drawn by Scotty McLennan’s college roomate, Gary Trudeau.

The Doonesbury character, Rev. Scott Sloan, gently parodies the real-life minister. As Rev. McLennan humorously complains, “Gary’s helped me become a living joke.”

Recently, at Harvard Divinity School, McLennan was joined by three others in a panel discussion centered on his new book.  The discussion focused on the topic “Why Spirituality Needs Religion,” a view that the author presents strongly in the book.

With some variations, the theologian Harvey Cox also agreed with this position. Writer James Carroll, however, first argued that spirituality does not in fact need religion before tempering this view with reasons for mutual support between the two.

Rev. McLennan stressed three reasons for the interdependence of the spirituality and religion. First, in the spiritual quest, everyone needs travelling companions. The search for truth is so difficult that you require the support of other people.

Secondly, you also need discipline, and that comes from the religious traditions of the world. Without discipline, you tend to go from one thing to another, the way “Janet Taylor” has done.

And thirdly, commitment to a social ideal also requires the support of a religious community. McLennan cited Martin Luther King, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, and asked how far they could have got without that support. Yes, we must always work against “the dark side of religion,” he conceded, but religion has always been the breeding ground of great-souled leaders.

Then Rev. McLennan also argued that faith is not something that comes to a per-son neatly packaged, once and for all. Rather it develops through various stages, from childish dependence through independence until one arrives at the interdependence of maturity. The support of religion is needed at each stage.

Religion is also needed to support prophets such as the leaders mentioned earlier. They must rely on the resources supplied by religion, such as sacred texts, methods of prayer, and communal worship. Without these, the prophet would be left entirely on his or her own and become ineffective.

Novelist, columnist and memoirist James Carroll has been much influenced, he said, by the experience of his children who show little interest in organized religion but are clearly spiritual people. Though he himself says “I regard my faith as a Christian as the greatest gift of my life,” he recognizes that you don’t need religion to beloved by God. Nor do you need it to love your neighbor or to work for justice.

This being said, however, Mr. Carroll then acknowledges the advantages of religion. It gives us a language that is important in the search for God. Beyond that, it provides a culture for that same search. And it offers access to a community of faith that transcends place and time. It also gives us a way to think about sin, he added.

In support of the main position, Harvey Cox suggested the importance of what he called “the landing points” along the route of spiritual development. The points are supplied by religion. He also argued that “a group of individuals are not going to accomplish much in the world.” Rather, you need a community of faith to support efforts to change the world toward greater justice and peace.

So, on balance, the conviction that spirituality needs religion emerged as the clear winner. “Janet Taylor”  would be well advised, therefore, to avail herself of the riches of religious tradition as she makes her way toward a more satisfying spiritual life. At least, this would be the prevailing counsel of Rev. McLennon and his supporters.

Richard Griffin