Duffy article

When I saw the title of this article, I was pretty sure I'd disagree with it, as I've been an agnostic for most of my life and religion is just not one of my favorite things to even think about. It's been irrelevant in my life for so long and I feel like this article was once again another attempt by the author to shove religion down my throat and convince me that I can't be happy without being spiritual. I know many happy agnostics/atheists. I've also known some sad Christians.

Which brings me to another note. They only used Christians in the study. Isn't that a little biased? It implies that Protestants and Catholics are the only ones who really matter. There's many other religions and people who just consider themselves to be spiritual. This study was completely skewed and inaccurate in only using Catholics and Protestants.

It also implied that the helping professions are vocations. I didn't quite like that assumption. I went into this field because I have a deep caring and interest for humanity, not because any higher power told me to. Just because I have no spiritual connection does not mean that I do not want to make the world a better place. I also have a deep desire to bring out the human potential that we are all born with. I chose this field with my own mind without any spiritual input.

Also, the article likened spirituality as having a good friend to confide in. My simple question is, don't most people have a good friend? Or even a therapist at that? I just never understood this argument, because while I may not have a million friends, I have enough people that I can confide in, who would do practically anything for me. Human bonding is a type of spirituality for me, I guess. We can do amazing things when we have each other. For example, my best friend has called me a few times out of the blue when I was really upset and just asked me what was going on. I think that sometimes people get so wrapped up in finding spirituality that they lose that human connection.

I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post. It's a controversial topic that hits home for many and I just want to be careful not to say anything too bad. Please let me know if I said anything that offended you instead of just letting me think that everything is alright.

Duffy, R. D. (2006). Spirituality, Religion, and Career Development: Current Status and Future Directions. The Career Development Quarterly, 55, 52-63.