GOD WITHOUT RELIGION
Awards and Mentions
• Winner, IPPY Best Book 2005 Religion award
• Winner, USABookNews.com Best Books 2005 Spirituality award
• Winner, ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Book of the Year Awards, Religion
category
• First runner-up, 2006 Writers’ Notes Book Awards, Health/Self-Help category
• Featured book for September on www.ReligiousTolerance.org
• Listed as Melissa Etheridge’s “favorite book” in Organic Style magazine
(October 2005)
• Featured title in ForeWord Magazine’s Religion and Spirituality issue
(Jan/Feb 2006)
Americans Growing More Spiritual, Less Religious
Albuquerque, NM—Religion is at the forefront of American news daily and is causing more controversy than ever. However, recent polls reveal an increasing number of Americans who, tired of the divisiveness caused by organized religion, consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” Is it possible to worship without priests, imams, or rabbis? The award-winning book GOD WITHOUT RELIGION shows how it’s not only feasible but far more advantageous, and offers a groundbreaking bridge between organized religion and personal spirituality.
Events like the Georgia church burnings, media buyouts by fundamentalists, the intelligent design debate, the Supreme Court’s split decision on public religious displays, and the prominence of evangelicals of all denominations in politics and the media, all give the impression that Americans are becoming increasingly devout. Yet appearances can be misleading. Despite the mushrooming concern about politicized religion, recent polls show a growing number of Americans seeking a connection to God free of religious doctrine.
Christian evangelicals, for example, amount to less than 10 percent of the American population, according to the Barna Group, a Christian polling and research organization. Further, a January 2002 USA Today/Gallup poll found that evangelicals are far outnumbered by the 33 percent of Americans describing themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Other studies also conclude that Americans are distancing themselves from organized religion, ready for a more individualized approach to spirituality uncircumscribed by outdated dogma. “The rise in personal spirituality is the major religion story of our time,” observes D. Patrick Miller in the July 2005 Fearless Bulletin.
But where’s a spiritual seeker to turn, if not to a church, mosque, or temple? An answer—and many new questions--lie in the book GOD WITHOUT RELIGION: Questioning Centuries of Accepted Truths by Sankara Saranam.
Saranam, an ascetic, mystic, and scholar, proposes a path directly to God without intermediaries--a way to an increasingly expansive spirituality through the science of intuition, or looking within. Saranam’s investigation of spirituality originates in the mystical traditions that form the basis of many of the world’s major religions. Mystics throughout the ages have employed the science of intuition to arrive at a universal understanding of life, unshackled by the need for answers from religious authorities.
To help spiritual investigators achieve a universal spirituality, Saranam teaches many of these centuries-old techniques for developing a firsthand knowledge of God through an expansive identity. In addition to inward exploration, he suggests replacing the community experience offered by denominational settings with group discussions questioning the nature of God. “It’s possible to enhance your spiritual well-being simply by being curious,” Saranam explains. “Unquestioningly accepting inherited beliefs about God promotes a narrow view of yourself and the world. To expand your perspective, worship by wondering. The more questions you ask, the more profound the answers will be, leading to deeper questions. Constantly challenging your conclusions and refining your knowledge of God promotes deep spiritual growth that takes into account the well-being of all of life.”
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