When I first moved here 10 years ago next month to become pastor of a church, one long-time resident of Memphis (though not native to the Bluff City) sought to enlighten me about the challenges I would face.   She said, “Memphis is a religious city, but not a spiritual one.”

It took awhile for that bit of truth to sink in, but now I know what she meant.  It has been said that Memphis has more churches per capita than any other city in the country.  Whether or not that is a verifiable fact, there is certainly truth to it.  From a small store front inner city ministry to a large suburban mega-church, we have it all.  Add to that the wonderful gifts of those who worship in synagogues, mosques, and temples, and Memphis as a “religious” city gets the prize.

But is it “spiritual?”

Many of us would agree that going into a house of worship does not make one spiritual, any more than going into a garage makes one a car.  (We have all sorts of garden utensils, bicycles, and junk in ours). And as we take a look at our city’s myriad of problems, from polarization of races to poverty to schools to urban flight to corruption to crime and more, underlying all of these are in essence spiritual issues.

This was made clear to me in an interview Leonardo Boff had with the Dalai Lama a few years ago, which I remembered when the Tibetan Buddhist visited Memphis last year.  Dr. Boff, a leading proponent of liberation theology, (and one of those the Glenn Beck said to run away from recently because he talked of social justice!) asked the Dalai Lama what the best religion was, thinking the response would be something along the lines of “The ancient Tibetan Buddhist teachings.”  Instead the response was “The best religion is the one that gets you closer to God. It is the one that makes you a better person.”

He was then asked, “What makes a better person?”  The Dalai Lama leaned forward and said “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, more ethical.”

Not a bad answer.  A very good one, as a matter of fact.  So much of our religion in Memphis simply reinforces our prejudices rather than makes us more compassionate.  It leads us to defy sensibility (case in point:  many of those who advocate guns in bars use “religious” principles); it makes us more loving, as long as others adhere to our beliefs; certainly humanitarian efforts have come from religious bodies of all stripes, but they stop at charity, and when justice is the issue, charity is a sin.

More responsible? Debatable. More ethical? Sometimes in personal conduct, but hardly in dealing with some of the larger moral and political issues, like poverty and the environment.

So if you are currently involved in a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple, you might want to ask if it helps you become more compassionate, loving, etc.  If you are hesitant to look into some sort of community of faith but haven’t because they tend to be too judgmental, harsh, and unloving, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.  There are some that fit the Dalai Lama’s definition.  And if you have no use for religion, you can still draw upon your own resources to be more sensible, humanitarian, loving, and ethical.