Interfaith Group

Eclecticism in religious practice--picking and choosing from a number of faiths to come up with a personal practice--is a pretty new phenomenon.

Syncretism is more broad-based--like, for instance, when African Yoruba traditions brought by slaves combined with Catholic traditions to eventually create new religious traditions like Santeria, Voudou, and Candomble in the Caribbean and Brazil that are each shared by a community of believers.

This eclectic attitude toward religion is more inclined toward personal practice, so it isn't likely to end up creating whole new syncretized traditions practiced by many people, but simply a multitude of personal practices tailored to individuals.

I think that's what the article is getting at, too--that the people doing this are not becoming members of multiple religious communities, but are forging their own paths using practices from multiple faiths as their foundation. So, in a sense, projecting into the future, this trend could eventually change the nature of religion as a community of people with shared beliefs to something of a more solitary nature.

It makes me think of these words that we hear a lot these days: "I'm spiritual, but not religious."