Nature is my church and love my religion, yet quietly and powerfully I still believe in God.

So why are so many of us afraid to speak up and use the G word publicly? Are we in fear of being labeled as religious or attached to the ancient texts twisted into dogma?

I hear God speak to me in the wind blowing through my hair on hikes at dawn and witness guidance in the quiet expanse of blue sky overhead as I sit meditating on the Earth.

For me, God has nothing to do with religion or church. God is everywhere. I, like you, am an expression of God and all that is in this Universe. We are ever-lasting and expanding individual energetic sparks of the divine swimming in a sea of other sparks. Our bodies will die, but our spark of divinity lives on continuously swallowed back into the whole and rebirthed all over again.

My work has been centered around seemingly esoteric teachings, guiding others on how to harness the life they want using quantum physics, daily practices, and neuro sculpting techniques.

Yet beyond all of that, I am guided by a supreme being when I close my eyes to the mystical silence that is as full as it is empty.

Most of us don’t want to be pigeon-holed as religious, and politics have successfully divided and twisted political parties into religious ones.

Somehow, talking about God openly has become the domain of the Religious Right seeking to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation of religious teachings.

Let me remind you that neither religion nor the church holds the copyright on God—there is no trademark as of today on this 3 letter word.

We say we’re spiritual but not religious on our dating profiles, and use words such as the Divine, the Universe, and Spirit because most of us don’t want the religious connotations associated with saying, God.

As children, we’re taught we must gather together in church to hear and witness God, yet those who sit around a fire ceremony feel and hear God just as deeply as prayers rise toward the heavens in smoke-filled air.

Religion doesn’t own God. No one does. We are God. We are all one. There is no “out there” or separation, only the perception of it. Religion teaches that we must find our way home again to God, but God is within.

Churches serve a beautiful purpose for those who wish to come together in community. There are huge, charitable endeavors churches provide within the community as well as abroad, and most churches are a place of refuge for those seeking solace. I’m grateful to have had the basic teachings of the church as a kid and still attend periodically when I feel the need for a message or for the community feeling, but churches don’t hold the patent on God. Religion isn’t the only path to the divine.

Clergy says church attendance is down while indigenous plant medicine ceremonies are up, and they worry about an entire generation not having roots based in spirituality.

It seems God is no longer trending yet let me assure you that religion and God are not mutually exclusive. The divine is found in oh so many places.

Scientists say the deeper they dive into the science of quantum physics, the closer to God they feel. Surgeons report the sense of an unknown source guiding their scalpels in surgery, and hospice workers whisper stories of the miraculous when they speak of patients dying.

Most who shun religion today do so because of fear-filled teachings of judgment and punishment, but every old religious text in the world teaches the same message in different ways: we are made in the image of God and are powerful, loving beings cloaked in our own perceived limitations.

Modern religion seems to reinforce that we are broken and bad, needing redemption and salvation. No wonder it’s simply easier to refrain from using the word God in fear of sounding religious.

Look into the eyes of a baby and you’ll see divinity. Into the eyes of your dog, there’s God. Look deeply into the newly opened rosebud on a summer morning and there resides God.

If you say God resides only within the four walls of a church translated through religion, I’ll tell you to get your third eye checked.

For years I chose to use the word love instead of God—feeling as though religion had robbed me of the right to use it since I didn’t attend church. Now I realize that saying the word God holds a powerful and energetic primal punch.

Can you feel the difference in the following sentence? We are love and there is only love or the absence of love, but we are also God as there is only God or the absence of God.

If going to church feels good to you, then go. If religion is your thing, then love it. But for those who aren’t comfortable with religion or church, it’s time to politely take God back from religion.

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~ photo via Author. While God is not trademarked nor copyrighted, this post, the title, and all 902 words are.