Father Mike Schmitz says the human spirit still recognizes people are "made for more" despite polling that indicates a decline in religious faith among Americans.
A recent poll in The Wall Street Journal showed that 39% of Americans say religion is "very important" to them compared to 62% of Americans in 1998. The importance of having children and patriotism also dropped substantially.
"People are more and more saying that they're spiritual, but not religious, and that's kind of a common phrase," Schmitz told "The Story" on Wednesday. "That's why the polls come in like: ‘How important is religion to you?’ 'Well, not very.’ Why? But if you ask them how important is spirituality to them, that comes in incredibly high, and that reveals a couple of things to me. One is it reveals that [in] the human spirit... we still recognize that we're made for more, we still recognize that there is something more out there."
The "Bible in a Year" podcast host said that "at some point," spirituality without religion "is not enough."
"If I want to have a real relationship with God... that's going to mean that I have real rights, meaning I have access to Him, that I actually get to talk to the Lord, that I get to actually have a relationship, but also means that I have real responsibilities, and so when it comes to the rules you're talking about, even in the Bible, it's all in the context of a real relationship."
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The Catholic priest explained that deep down, people "hunger" to have a spiritual life.
"As a person of faith, I want to say, ‘OK God, what is it that you want me to do?'" he said. "Then to actually do that is the goal of life, is to say essentially what we'll hear Jesus say on Good Friday and Holy Thursday, ‘Not my will, but your will be done.'"
