Since When Is "Religious" A Bad Word?

There is a local denominational church in our area whose motto is

"The Spiritual, but not Religious church".

I am afraid churches such as this have allowed the christophobic society in which we live to redefine a proper and relevant biblical definition. This particular church is obviously religious in the adjective form of the word. To deny such is not reality and frankly, not biblical. I only know because they have the mass-mailing thing down pat. On their typical mailer, you will also see the words "sanctuary", "teaching", "leadership", "classes", "Pastoral Counseling Centers", "counseling degree and license", "ordained ministers", and "program". Hmmm...I am puzzled as to why they are ashamed to be considered religious and what makes them think they are not. Why is it better to be "spiritual" and what is the difference? They are a well established major denomination and have what seems to be a well oiled method and order to ministry. Their website is also a dot org. My puzzlement is over the fact that I thought I knew what religious meant. Have I missed something? Since when is "Religious" a bad word? Forgive me, I am not certain whether it is a spiritual or religious thing for me to do a concordance and dictionary search, but I find that the word "religious" is mentioned about 5 times in the scriptures, all in reference to the Jews. Paul uses the word the most in reference to himself. James uses the word "religion" stating the fact that there is a pure form of it. I was hard pressed to find the word used in a derogatory manner. So what does it mean?


θρησκός thrēskos, religious

1. fearing or worshipping God
2. to tremble
3. trembling, fearful

Religious (adj.)

1. Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.

2. Of, concerned with, or teaching religion: a religious text.

3. Extremely scrupulous or conscientious: religious devotion to duty

Forgive me, but tell me again... why shouldn't I be religious? Even in the definition of "spiritual", the old "R" word slips in.

Spiritual (adj)

1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.
2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.

I kind of thought that the church was supposed to be unashamedly both, spiritual and religious. Christ was spiritual and yet religious. So are we. He religiously visited the temple and observed all of the feasts, fasts, and festivals. So do we. Why the great dissect between the religious and the spiritual?

Wouldn't a better motto be

"The Spiritually, Religious Church"?

Religious is not a bad word...but maybe I'm just being too spiritual.