Being "Spiritual" is not being "Religious"

Several years ago I was at a national atheist's convention where the leader said, "We atheists are much bigger than the 6% published number. We claim the "nones" too. They are often 'spiritual' but not 'religious.'" At the time I thought his claim was a little over the top. It turns out it may not have been. Almost every day Christian writers claim religion has not declined. Instead, the word "spirituality", they claim is a synonym, is used. A Christian professor today challenged that notion. He wrote that a person who claims to be spiritual is much different than one who claims to be religious. They are not interchangeable. 

The reason the link author believes people who claim to be spiritual and different from those who claim to be religious is because of another questionnaire response. When each is asked a follow up question, "How important is this to you?" the religious said very important while spiritual beliefs were not very important to the second group. That means, the link author says, the two groups are quite different, not interchangeable. 

It seems quite logical then that Christians should stop claiming "spiritual" people as part of their group. Perhaps the atheist guy was not altogether correct in claiming them are part of that group either. I consider them to be mostly a group who is indifferent to both "spirits" and "gods." They represent the direction I think this culture is moving--it's no longer interested in the old narratives.