ABSTRACT
Religion is often thought of as an organized social system of beliefs and practices, whereas spirituality refers to individuals’ unique, subjective existential concerns, sense of meaning, and/ or transcendent or mystical experiences (Miller, 1998; Pargament, 1997). Both religion and spirituality involve a connection with the transcendent, something larger and more important than the individual and potentially considered sacred or divine. R/S are multidimensional phenomena including public and private practices, experiences (e.g., mystical experiences, connection to God and others, inner peace, etc.), beliefs (e.g., specific creeds, belief in angels or demons, concepts of God as loving or punitive, etc.), R/S coping and support, R/S struggles or distress, and other concepts (Hill, 2005).
