I see why scholars turn towards the term “spirituality.” We have to wrestle with the construction of “religion” as a category birthed from Western colonialism. And, if we’re going to turn towards spirituality we must also re-assess our other categories beginning with “sacred.”
If the move is that the notion of religion was imposed on indigenous practices throughout the world (cf. Talal Asad) then we also need to wrestle with the categories we use to describe/interpret indigenous practices.
Because some of what I see is a super valid critique of “religion” in the turn to spirituality that continues using all the categories of “religion” as constructed in the West: sacred/profane, material/immaterial. Western epistemologies are still present.
And, while I’m hip to the turn towards “spirituality” we also need to wrestle with the ways communities—including minoritized and indigenous communities—use the moniker and framework of “religion” to make meaning in their lives (a border thinking a la decolonial theory).
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