Consumerism is not a religion: aiming for the trivial at the shopping mall

ABSTRACT This theoretical and exploratory article analyzes and critically examines the recurrent argument that equates consumption with religious practice. According to an argument offered mainly by theologians, consumerism is a form of ‘ersatz’ religion, thus serving as a competitor to the Church. As a starting-point for the exposition of this argument, this article examines the shopping mall as a sacred space by highlighting the theoretical work of Mircea Eliade and by arguing that consumerism is the religion practiced at the shopping mall. Although theologians have good reason to understand the shopping mall as a sacred space and consumerism as a religion, this article challenges their assertion through a reading mainly of the work by William Cavanaugh who argues that consumerism does not facilitate the pursuit of a telos. As this is a prerequisite for a religion to be considered as such, this article argues that consumerism should not be regarded as a religion and that the shopping mall should therefore not be considered as a sacred space. Finally, the consumerism of contemporary movements that are operating in the ‘spiritual marketplace’ is discussed. In particular, the article argues that too much focus on these movements risks obscuring the way other religions embrace consumerist logic.


Introduction
As Zygmunt Bauman argues, Western societies are 'societies of consumers', as social worth is increasingly determined by citizens' willingness and capacity to consume (Bauman 2007, 52-81).Understood as a fundamental need and right of the person, a society's institutions, personal relationships, and cultural expressions become shaped by the necessity to consume.In that context, consumption becomes a distinct and defining feature in contemporary Western culture (Smart 2010, 4-7).
As societies increasingly prioritize their citizens' ability to consume, problematic aspects of this development emerge.Some examples of the downside of excessive consumption include a disproportionate emphasis on pleasure, the increase of national and personal debt, the poor working conditions in the production of consumer goods, and the strain on the environment.A distinct criticism that theologians in particular direct toward consumption is that it acts as a competitor to the Church.As theologians argue, consumerism has become an 'ersatz' religion for the consumerist, as it has a greater appeal than the life offered by the Church and other religious traditions (Ryan 2020, 227).As Sharon Zukin writes, "We shop because we long for value-for a virtuous ideal of value that we no longer get from religion, work, or politics" (2005, 8, emphasis added).
The purpose of this article is to analyze and critically examine the recurring argument that tends to equate consumption with religious practice.Although the focus is on some theologians' use of the argument, this article also highlights similar arguments developed mainly within sociology of religion.However, the analysis offered does not attempt to give a comprehensive exposition of the works of the scholars mentioned nor offer a comprehensive exposition of the scholarly work on religion and consumption.The task here is to illustrate the aforementioned tendency, to allow a critical examination of it.Furthermore, this article does not present any empirical evidence that deals with the issues raised.Accordingly, the undertaking of the article is theoretical and argumentative.
How to define religion is, of course, a contentious issue (Fitzgerald 2000, 3-32) and the definition offered in this article with the help of Paul Tillich in particular can undoubtedly be criticized.If another definition were used in this article, it would, therefore, be reasonable to assume that the argument presented would be different.On the other hand, as will become apparent, the definition is consistent with the description of religion that is often implicit in some theologians' criticism of consumerism.The understanding of religion offered is therefore not an attempt to essentialize the category of religion as I do not believe that such an endeavor would be fruitful or possible.Rather, it is to highlight a specific way of understanding religion within the mainly theological critique of consumerism.
The point of departure is the shopping mall.As early as the first half of the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin (1999, 37) described the shopping malls of his time-the arcades-as "temples of commodity capital" designed as "nave [s] with side chapels".Theologians and other religious scholars describe the shopping mall in a similar way, suggesting that it is a modern and secular sacred space for the practice of consumer religion.To analyze this argument, this article uses Mircea Eliade's description of sacred spaces.The shopping mall's practice-shopping-is subsequently discussed to highlight how consumers shape their desires at the shopping mall.
The formative character of the shopping mall makes it reasonable to describe consumerism as a religion.Without denying that there is a family likeness between religious practices and consumerism, this article challenges this perspective with the support of, above all, William Cavanaugh's work.By contending that consumerism does not direct desire toward anything ultimate, this article argues that consumerism cannot be perceived as a religion.If that is the case, a reassessment of the criticism of consumerism (and the shopping mall) is required within religious studies and theology, which takes into account its non-religious character.
During such a reassessment, movements that have thrived in the contemporary 'spiritual marketplace' will once again come into focus.As will be highlighted below, these movements (to the extent that it is possible to call them movements as they are not always unified in their goals and not always formally organized) are characterized by an unwillingness to affiliate with a religious tradition.Furthermore, in this article, their connection to market consumerism is established.Due to their connection to the spiritual marketplace, some theologians often criticize these movements as they perceive them as individualistic and consumerist forms of spirituality.While critical examinations of these movements are essential, this article argues that an excessive focus on them risks obscuring the way the Church (and other religious traditions) also embrace consumerist logic.

The shopping mall as a sacred space
In Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, James Smith asks the reader to imagine "one of the most important religious sites in the metropolitan area" (2009,19).According to him, the site attracts many 'pilgrims', which is apparent by the need for vast parking lots surrounding the building that facilitates their pilgrimage.Once inside, the pilgrims will see beautiful glass-clad spaces that allow them to escape their dull and mundane existence and let them be part of a formative ritualistic practice through which they can express their innermost desires.Smith further argues that the building resembles medieval cathedrals, complete with a noticeable iconography that depicts saintly figures who serve as examples for the worshippers: they "invite us to imagine ourselves in their shoes-to imagine ourselves otherwise, and thus to willingly submit to the disciplines that produce the saints evoked in the icons" (Smith 2009, 21).
Clearly, it is not just any cathedral that Smith is describing.It is a shopping mall.As he explains, one generally tends to think of shopping malls as neutral and benign arenas.According to his reasoning, that would be a naïve assumption as they have a distinctly religious character (Smith 2009, 23).
Smith's reasoning is in line with a long-held tradition in theology and sociology of religion where theologians and religious scholars understand shopping malls as religious arenas (McFarland Taylor 2015).In The New Religious Image of Urban America: The Shopping Mall as Ceremonial Center, the first comprehensive study from a phenomenology of religion perspective of the shopping mall carried out in 1986, Ira Zepp points out that shopping malls are often architecturally similar to temples and cathedrals.He also argues that they replicate the social and ritualistic role of these spaces.(Zepp 1997) Similarly, George Ritzer argues that shopping malls offer the consumer "increasingly magical, fantastic and enchanted settings in which to consume" and "where people go to practice their 'consumer religion'" (Ritzer 2005, 7).For this reason, he also claims that shopping malls "clearly qualify for the label of cathedrals of consumption" (ibid, 8).
Christian theologians have criticized the shopping mall (and consumption in general) for replacing religion.Instead of persons being engaged in the life of a religious tradition, they are "shopping for meaningful lives" (Rittenhouse 2013), where the shopping mall serves as the center of a consumer-based Weltanschauung in a post-Christian context (Sayers 2008, 29-39).For example, Jon Pahl argues in his book Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Places (2008) that the shopping mall invites people to take part in a practice that allegedly brings them happiness and the experience of grace.Although the direct experience of shopping is almost euphoric, Pahl suggests that it can only offer a false sense of happiness.The mall, therefore, replaces God's grace with emptiness and Pahl consequently advises consumers to reorient themselves toward the Church (see also McFarland Taylor 2015, 320).
To clarify this well-established perspective of the shopping mall within theology, Mircea Eliade's exposition of sacred spaces is appropriate. 1From a phenomenology of religion perspective, based on a reading of Rudolf Otto's works (Ritzer 2005, 8), Eliade highlights the religious experience of the sacred, which he describes as something entirely different from the reality that constitutes one's everyday life (Eliade 1959, 11-16).He explains that spatial reality is anything but homogeneous for religious persons.Instead, they recognize that there are divisions between the religious and the profane.Thus, they experience that there are spaces "that are not sacred and so are without structure or consistency, amorphous" (ibid, 20) and that a sacred space is, therefore, "qualitatively different from the profane space by which it is surrounded" (ibid, 15).The religious person consequently lives in a world arranged according to a division between the religious and the profane.In contrast, the profane person does not recognize this division but sees the world as homogeneous and devoid of the experience of the sacred (Eliade 1959, 20-24).
Naturally, for Eliade, a church is a sacred space.When a Christian enters a church, they enter an arena that contrasts with the surrounding worldhomogeneity is broken within the church building.Within its walls, the profane world appears as separate from the ultimate reality-a reality that the religious person can access while in the church (Eliade 1959, 24-37).
As churches and other sacred spaces maintain the distinction between profane and sacred reality, Eliade believes that the sacred space serves as a 'center' for the religious person's life.For that person, the sacred space allows access to a reality that is perfect and more true than the profane reality that they usually occupy: where "the sacred Manifests itself in space, the real unveils itself, the world comes into existence" (Eliade 1959, 63, emphasis added;cf. Hauerwas 2001, 375).Therefore, according to Eliade's reasoning, the religious person wants to live near the sacred space, which allows them to access this ultimate world.It is there that the religious person becomes religious-that is, where they are able to become themselves: religious "man can live only in a sacred world, because it is only in such a world that he participates in being, that he has a real existence" (Eliade 1959, 64, emphasis added).Furthermore, when the religious person leaves the sacred space and enters the profane world, they will want to transform the profane world so that it mimics the sacred cosmology: "[Religious man] sanctifies his little cosmos by making it like the world of the gods" (Eliade 1959, 65).Accordingly, living near the center "renders orientation possible" (ibid, 63, emphasis added), in that it allows the 'religious man' to live an authentic life-a non-homogeneous and sanctified life-even if he has physically left the sacred space.
Eliade's analysis of religious experience is hardly unproblematic.He has, among other things, been accused by his peers of making broad generalizations and of lacking empirical evidence for his theories (Douglas 1988).For the purpose of this article, however, his work helps us understand why some theologians and religious scholars highlight the shopping mall's religious foundation.Indeed, in Eliade's cosmology, there are three planes of reality: the profane world, the ultimate world that breaks with the profane, and the sacred space that serves as the center of the religious person's cosmology.Accordingly, the shopping mall can be understood as a sacred space by the theologians and religious scholars highlighted above.From Eliade's theoretical perspectives, we realize that prospective consumersthe pilgrims in consumer societies-live in a profane reality, in the sense that they live in a reality that offers nothing but a homogeneous existence.The profane world lacks all sense of wonder; there is no sacredness worth mentioning-it is a dull and mundane world.In the shopping mall, however, the consumer experiences an enchanted world filled with possibility.Here, anyone who has the ability (meaning the time and resources) to do so can transform themselves according to the ideals conveyed within the confines of the shopping mall.It is possible to perfect one's reality by consuming according to the ideals that the surrounding icons-the advertisements-convey: are you feeling down?Buy a cupcake from this café.Do you want to be successful in your job?Buy these clothes and you will gain confidence and respect.Do you want to be loved?Use this deodorant.
Accordingly, it is possible to satisfy whatever desires one has (or does not even know that one has) at the shopping mall.As a sacred space, it gives consumers access to a form of divinity, in the sense that it conveys a vision of the good life obtained through consumption.It becomes a cathedral capable of transforming the profane everyday life of consumers into a life of bliss-a sacred life.
A similar argument is made by Daniel Miller in A Theory of Shopping (1998).He argues that there exists an analogous relationship between sacrificial ritual and shopping.As in sacrificial rituals, the shopper focuses their practices toward a transcendent entity-love, which is argued to be the foundation of family life.Miller asserts that The primary purpose of sacrifice when seen from the perspective of the non-believer is an activity that constructs the divine as a desiring subject.The point of smoke rising up to the deity is that it confirms that there exists a deity who wishes to be fed in this manner.The central purpose of shopping is now seen to be precisely the same.Shopping is the construction of the other as the desiring subject.The purpose of shopping is not so much to buy the things people want, but to strive to be in a relationship with subjects that want these things.(Miller 1998, 148) This brief exposition suggests that the theologians and religious scholars mentioned above are correct: there is no difference between a shopping mall and other religious arenas in that the mall allows for a similar experience of the sacred.Therefore, when consumption seems increasingly to occupy the life of Westerners, it becomes relevant to study and critically examine the mall as a sacred space.

Consumerism: the (alleged) religion of the shopping mall
The theologians who emphasize the shopping mall's religious character are not, generally speaking, against consumption and trade.Consumption and trade are currently necessary conditions for everyday life.Consequently, buying goods does not mean that the consumer is part of a practice that is religious in nature.However, when their consumption is perceived to be rooted in the experience of the sacred, it becomes something else.It becomes consumerism.
As Cavanaugh points out, consumerism differs from consumption in that it constitutes 'a type of spirituality'.Regardless of whether the consumer recognizes that their consumption serves such a role, Cavanaugh believes that consumerism can become "a way of pursuing meaning and identity, a way of connecting with other people" (2008,36).Therefore, consumerism occupies the same role in people's lives that religion once had, making it, as Laura Hartman argues, an "identity-forming, meaning-making activity that rivals religious practice in its importance for humans' sense of self and community" (2017,316).
In order to expand further on this perspective, Smith's thinking is again appropriate.He argues that a person's religion is not determined by what they think but by what they do.He is consequently critical of the tendency to make religion into a worldview, which in his mind reduces religion to a collection of theoretical-cognitive assumptions.Being religious, thus understood, becomes an endeavor to think 'correctly', which, Smith argues, is an approach that is both theologically problematic and differs from the lived experience of being religious (Smith 2009(Smith , 32-34, 42-46, 2012(Smith , 167-169, 2013a(Smith , 6-8, 10-11, 2017, 8-9), 8-9).
As a contrast to the emphasis on worldview, Smith suggests that religious life is a question of loving correctly (cf.Miller 1998, 15-72).When a person loves, Smith explains, they express a way of relating to the world that transcends a strictly theoretical-cognitive approach to life.Accordingly, to love is not about thinking in a certain way.It is about acting in a certain way-to feel a specific desire that draws the person toward the object of their love.And this, Smith believes, is a fundamental part of being human: We are primordially and essentially agents of love, which takes the structure of desire or longing.We are essentially and ultimately desiring animals, which is simply to say that we are essentially and ultimately lovers.(Smith 2009, 50-51) Through a reading of Saint Augustine's work (see Smith 2017, 43-52), Smith understands desire as man's fundamental driving force, in the sense that persons orient themselves according to what they desire.Although it is possible to name the object of a person's desire, it is mainly by studying a person's practices that it is possible to reveal what they desire.Or, to put it differently, the important thing is not what you say or think that you love, but who or what in action you endeavor to be close to (Smith 2009(Smith , 52-62, 2013a, 103-124), 103-124).Since the object of one's love appears in action, Smith explains that the life of the Church is based on creating practices that direct one's love toward that which is the source of man's ultimate longing-God.Smith accordingly argues that liturgies are formative practices that corporeally educate persons to identify what is worth loving (Smith 2009, 56-59, 62, 70-73). 2  Interestingly, Smith argues that liturgies are not limited to Christian practice.As he notes, not all people love the same thing, although they share the same basic need to love.For that reason, the fundamental question is not whether people love, but what they love and how they learn to love it (Smith 2009, 52; see also Smith 2012, 176-177).For that reason, Smith argues that secular liturgies exist that act in a similar way as Christian liturgies (ibid, 85-88).Therefore, it is not surprising that Smith highlights the shopping mall as a liturgical arena, as it invites the consumer to take part in a liturgy of consumption, the purpose of which is to shape their desires.Thus, shopping is not merely about satisfying a material need.It is also about becoming a person who loves certain things (Smith 2009, 93-101).Smith writes that "The pedagogy of the mall does not primarily take hold of the head, so to speak; it aims for the heart, for our guts, our kardia" (ibid, 24). 3 A crucial question thus is into what kind of person the shopping mall is forming the consumer.What does consumerism allow the consumer to love?
The non-teleological essence of consumerism In order to understand the argument offered by theologians and religious scholars, in this article, the shopping mall is understood as a sacred space, as it offers a division between a profane and an ultimate reality.In this sense, the shopping mall acts as a center for a person's life orientation.It has further been argued that the shopping mall, unlike other arenas of consumption, is given this role because it maintains a consumeristic form of consumption, where consumerism is the name that theologians and religious scholars generally give the consumer religion practiced at the shopping mall.Following Smith, the article has argued that consumerism is sustained and spread through shopping, which is a consumerist liturgy that shapes a person's desires and thus what they love above all else.For the aforementioned reasons, there is reason to understand the shopping mall as a religious arena-a cathedral of consumption.
However, while I contend that consumerism is concerned with human desire, I disagree with the assessment that it should be considered a religion.Specifically, I will argue that consumerism does not have a religious character, as it does not facilitate the pursuit of anything ultimate.Instead, consumerism trivializes all attempts to love.
If we return to Eliade, the shopping mall appears as a religious arena in that it functions as a sacred space that separates the divine from the profane world.For Eliade, it is specifically by offering a connection with the ultimate that a sacred space can serve as an arena for the life orientation of the 'religious man'.
Paul Tillich argued similarly and can, therefore, help us comprehend the understanding of religion that the theological critique of consumerism maintains that I have highlighted in this article.Tillich believes that religion is what contributes to a person's quest for the ultimate.He thus defines religion as "the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of the meaning of our existence" (Tillich 1963, 4-5, emphasis added; see also Tillich 2007, 10-14).Two things are worth highlighting in this definition.Firstly, like Eliade, Tillich emphasizes the connection between the religious experience and the experience of the ultimate.Secondly, the connection to the ultimate is the starting-point when a person forms their identity.Accordingly, religion provides an answer to the question of what is ultimate, which makes it possible for the person to comprehend what is meaningful, in the sense of worth pursuing. 4Following Susan Fletcher, we can thus state that "Religious beliefs offer an explanation for the fundamental meaning of life and have always been a viable source of meaning in individuals' lives through positive beliefs, rituals, symbols, traditions, and support" (Fletcher 2004, 171).
Tillich further explains that, although an ultimate concern usually appears as a belief in a deity, the notion of the ultimate can emerge in "non-theistic religions" (e.g.Buddhism) and "secular quasi-religions" (e.g.civil religion) (see Tillich 1963, 1-25).For this reason, Tillich's definition also makes it possible to argue that consumerism is a religion that acts as a competitor to the Church.If religion deals with the ultimate and facilitates a person's meaning-making endeavors and if consumerism is a form of meaning making, consumerism can be understood as a religion.Therefore, from a theological perspective, there is also reason to emphasize that consumerism becomes a form of idolatry, in that it replaces the belief in God with the consumption of goods.
The problem with this reasoning is that consumerism offers no such meaning.It cannot replace the invitation of the Church and other religious traditions to find meaning, because-according to the logic of consumerism-there is nothing meaningful offered, at least not in the sense of an ultimate concern.This line of thought can be clarified with the help of Cavanaugh's thinking.Like Smith, Cavanaugh argues that the liturgies of consumerism shape human desires (Portin 2019).However, they differ in the way they believe consumerism shapes desire.
According to Cavanaugh's reasoning, the distinct feature of consumerism is that it changes the conditions for human desire.As has hitherto been argued, the purpose of religion is to make people love in a certain way and love specific things.Religion achieves this by making persons act in a way that shapes their desires, which are consequently directed toward an ultimate concern-or a telos, as Cavanaugh explains.On the other hand, consumerism challenges the teleological nature of desire by trivializing the notion that there is some concern that is ultimate.Cavanaugh writes that it is a matter of wanting without any idea why we want what we want.To desire with no good other than desire itself is to desire arbitrarily.To desire with no telos, no connection to the objective end of desire, is to desire nothing and to become nothing.(2008,14) If consumerism is examined as a (liturgical) practice, Cavanaugh states that its characteristic is restlessness-an unwillingness by the consumer to feel satisfied with what they have consumed.As soon as a consumer has consumed something, they immediately direct their attention toward the next desirable object.According to the consumerist logic, it is consequently only in the act of consumption that an object has any value.As soon as a person has consumed it, it can be discarded.For that reason, consumerism always keeps desire in motion and never allows the consumer to bind their love to anything ultimate (Cavanaugh 2008, 34-35, 46-47).Cavanaugh writes that Detachment, not attachment, characterizes a consumer economy; consumers must continually be dissatisfied with their possessions so that the wheels of production continue to move.It is not buying, however, but shopping that captures the heart of consumerism.Dissatisfaction and satisfaction cease to be opposites because pleasure is not in the object but in desire itself.(ibid, 221) The advertising industry has adopted this consumeristic logic.Tricia Sheffield argues that the advertising industry frequently conveys that a person's value is determined by their ability to consume-those with the trendiest clothes, the latest gadgets, and the most extravagant journeys are the ones that are worth idolizing.If a person does not want to or cannot be part of a consumerist endeavor, the advertisements convey that they, as part of a society of consumers, are deficient in some manner.Sheffield further argues that the advertising industry never conveys the idea that a person can achieve their goals.Unlike Christian eschatology, which points to a future with material and spiritual fulfillment, the advertising industry never wants the consumer to be satisfied: advertising functions in such a way as to conflate enough with the desire for more.[…] The goal of advertising's eschatological discourse is for consumers never to have enough; to be satisfied is to be unfulfilled.(Sheffield 2015, 178-179) Similarly, Cavanaugh explains that "consumerism is the death of Christian eschatology.There can be no rupture with the status quo, no inbreaking kingdom of God, but only endless superficial novelty."(2008,93) Accordingly, the main argument that this article has been developing is that consumerism is not a competitor to the Church, as it does not offer the pursuit of an alternative telos.Consumerism is not an 'ersatz' religion.Instead, consumerism is a threat to the Church and all other religions because it trivializes every pursuit of a telos.
It is not clear whether Cavanaugh himself would make a similar assessment.As already mentioned, for him, consumerism is "a type of spirituality" that "can become a way of pursuing meaning and identity" (2008,36).However, his theoretical work also offers an alternative perspective that challenges the understanding of consumerism as a religion, especially when religion is understood as Tillich suggests.As consumerism challenges the endeavor for a telos and trivializes the notion of ultimate concerns, consumerism can offer nothing but the immediate consumption of goods.Therefore, the only meaning that consumerism offers is volatile.It does not offer access to anything sacred. 5I would also argue that this is in line with Cavanaugh's reasoning, as he writes that "There is no common telos or 'sacred canopy' above the diversity of desires, only an 'empty shrine' or 'wasteland' where common goals used to stand" (Cavanaugh 2008, 5). 6 Thus, as consumerism does not offer a pursuit of anything ultimate, it cannot be understood as a religion.Consumerism instead offers a teleology of the trivial-a life devoid of ultimate meaning.Wherever consumerism takes you, it will accordingly never take you to a place of any great significance.To paraphrase Gertrude Stein: there is never anything there there.Consumerism can at most be understood as an 'implicit religion' (see Bailey 1990, 483-487), which means that it has a certain family resemblance with many faithbased traditions.For the same reason, it is also difficult to claim that the shopping mall is a religious arena.Although it shares many similarities with the sacred spaces described by Eliade, the consumerism that the consumer practices there does not offer access to anything sacred, here understood as an ultimate concern.

Being spiritual but not religious in the spiritual marketplace
If we accept that it is not useful to define consumerism as a religion, the theories that suggest that it is need to be re-evaluated.There are undoubtedly reasons to examine critically the influence of consumerism on societies and its hegemonic cultural position.However, these examinations need to be based on the realization that consumerism does not replace religion but challenges religion's role to foster desire.Simply put, consumerism increasingly makes people stop loving, which is detrimental to any tradition (religious or otherwise) that wants to educate persons to identify what is worth desiring.
As consumerism is a defining feature in contemporary Western culture, an essential role for theologians is to examine critically whether and how religious organizations and actors assimilate consumerism.When conducting such a critical examination, the movements that have flourished in the so-called 'spiritual marketplace' (Roof 2001) will come into focus.As Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead (2005) argue, we are currently witnessing a 'spiritual revolution', characterized by persons increasingly distancing themselves from organized forms of religion.Instead, they ground their faith in personal experience and preference, thus becoming 'spiritual' instead of religious.As Heelas and Woodhead further argue, it is the actors who are skilled in catering to the various spiritual needs in the spiritual marketplace that are gaining in influence and who will also be the most influential in the future (Heelas and Woodhead 2005, 1-11).
A similar argument is made by Jörg Stolz et al. in (Un)Believing in Modern Society (2016) who maintain that traditional religions are forced to compete for influence with other actors due to the spiritual revolution.When religious traditions no longer have any particular authority in people's lives, alternative forms of religious practices become more common.One distinct feature of these practices is that they are not bound to membership of any religious tradition.Those engaged in them are instead themselves allowed to decide which practices they want to embrace.In addition, the authors argue that these 'spiritual' practices are dependent upon ideals found in the consumer market.Since they generally do not require any form of membership of an organization or tradition, it is often by buying experiences, knowledge, and spiritual artifacts that spiritual seekers gain access to the spiritual (Stolz et al. 2016, 11-50; see also Aupers and Houtman 2013).The spiritual marketplace does accordingly not only offer diverse outlets to express one's spirituality, spirituality has also become a business (cf.Carrette and King 2005). 7 The spiritual revolution has consequently contributed to the development of a spiritual market in two regards: partly by creating greater competition between different religious and spiritual actors and partly by developing a consumer market for the trade and consumption of spiritual experiences, knowledge, and artifacts.For this reason, theologians have condemned the spiritual revolution for developing a 'spiritual supermarket' (see e.g.Bowman 1999, 183;Lyon 2000) that encourages a "consumption of religion à la carte" (Possamai 2003, 35) where people are free to choose their spiritual commitment and expression.
This development has been reinforced by the development of the Internet and mobile technology, which have given people greater access to spiritual resources and information.In the virtual spiritual marketplace, people also have more opportunities to bypass religious authority.Personal sovereignty is further enhanced through social media, allowing users to become not only consumers but also producers of spiritual content on the Internet (Lövheim 2012;Miczek 2012).Hence the emergence of, for example, spiritual influencers who share their experiences as spiritual seekers and give advice to others on social media.Interestingly, this development is happening at the same time as the shopping mall is losing market shares.Instead of going to the shopping mall, it is becoming increasingly more convenient to find a sense of community and entertainment and to shape one's identity online.The Internet can thus be understood as a virtual shopping mall-the new arena for consumerism (Wagner 2015, 139-144).
The criticism of the 'Spiritual But Not Religious' (SBNR) movement is illustrative in this regard. 8Several theologians purport that the SBNR movement represents a form of 'pick-and-mix religion' (a criticism underlined by the establishment of the virtual shopping mall).Accordingly, it is criticized for creating a spirituality that wants nothing beyond the satisfaction of personal needs-a form of religious practice that never requires anything of the practitioners beyond the satisfaction of personal preference.Hence, spirituality without religion is understood to offer a superficial form of spiritual practice that lacks the narrative and practical resources that a religious tradition offers (Davies andFreathy 2014, 1186).To describe oneself as spiritual but not religious consequently means, according to the critics of the movement, that one is not willing to live a life in fellowship with others-but engages in a more or less narcissistic life in which one gives priority to one's own interests and needs.Adam Possamai, therefore, argues that there "is an eclectic-if not kleptomaniac-process of selecting culture(s) and religions in a way that gives immediate pleasure […] with no clear reference to an external or 'deeper' reality" (Possamai 2003, 40).
According to the understanding of consumerism highlighted in this article, there is reason to argue that the SBNR movement is consumerist in its design.It is not only part of a spiritual market that commodifies spirituality, it can also be argued that it trivializes the pursuit for the ultimate, as it offers nothing but a superficial form of spirituality.Spirituality becomes volatile and interchangeable, as there is nothing particular that is worth pursuing or has any lasting value.According to this reasoning, being spiritual but not religious means that you are what you say that you are-that is, not religious. 9 In light of this, it becomes relevant for theologians to examine the SBNR movement's connection to consumerism critically.While such a critical review is essential, it is equally important to emphasize that the criticism highlighted above is somewhat misleading.Describing the SBNR movement as a less authentic form of spirituality becomes problematic if, as Jane Mulcock points out, one takes into account that the spiritual supermarket continues to entice and supply real people, sincere and serious people, who are genuinely seeking a greater sense of meaning and purpose.
[…] As such, they are inextricably implicated in even the most sincere and authentic of personal experiences.(Mulcock 2001, 170) Linda Mercadante's research further demonstrates that SBNR people do not trivialize their spiritual endeavors.Through qualitative methods (personal interviews), she has shown that they take their spiritual endeavors very seriously and carefully choose in what spiritual practices they partake.Similarly, they often have well-developed and fairly consistent notions of, among other things, human nature, the need for community, and life after death (Mercadante 2014).For these reasons, it is sensible to argue that they, too, would be critical of consumerism and its trivialization of the ultimate.For them, the sacred is not something to be trivialized.Instead, it is something to be cared for and sought after.Therefore, just as consumerism counteracts religions' pursuits of the ultimate, it also counteracts 'spirituality'.
It is undeniable that the SBNR movement risks falling victim to a consumerist logic.However, this outcome is not a given.Therefore, focusing on the SBNR movement's alleged association with consumerism makes it an appropriate, although not always suitable, scapegoat.Furthermore, such attempts might conceal that religious traditions are also subject to the same risk of consumerism.The Church can become 'McDonaldized' (Drane 2005), too, as some theologians have emphasized.Among others, Smith argues that some Christian congregations often unwittingly adopt consumerist practices (e.g. when praise bands try to imitate the style and mannerisms of famous and contemporary artists) (Smith 2009(Smith , 103, 2013b, 87-95), 87-95).Additionally, Cornel West contends that many Christian congregations in the United States encourage their members to live comfortable middle-class lives, something that the consumerist culture accentuates.Such a petit bourgeoisie mentality, he believes, dampens the prophetic will of Christians, which, he believes, is necessary for Christian resistance to injustice.Therefore, West argues that "The funky gospel of Jesus can become so Americanized that it is reduced to marketplace spirituality, prosperity gospel, and Chamber of Commerce religion" (West 2008, 70;cf. Metz 1981, 1-16).
Thus, as with the SBNR movement, Christianity might become the victim of consumerist logic. 10For that reason, there is no reason to focus solely on the SBNR movement (and similar movements) when discussing consumerism's influence on religion and spirituality.

Concluding remarks
As I have already maintained, defining religion is a contentious issue and I do not want to give the impression that I am advancing a universally applicable definition of religion.However, as I have also argued, the way of describing religion that has been highlighted in this article is often implicit in some theologians' criticism of consumerism.
According to this criticism, consumerism is perceived as a competitor to the Church-a kind of 'ersatz' religion that occupies the role that Christianity and other religious traditions previously had.As an illustrative example of this criticism, this article has discussed the shopping mall as a religious arena.By taking Eliade's theoretical work as a starting point, the article has argued that those who believe that the shopping mall is a religious arena understand it as a sacred space that creates a midpoint between a profane reality and a divine or ultimate reality.Furthermore, a specific religion is supposedly offered at the shopping mall: consumerism.With the support of Smith's work, the article has argued that the consumerism of the shopping mall is mediated by inviting consumers to take part in the shopping mall's liturgies.These shape the consumer to love in a certain way and to love specific things, which, Smith believes, consumerist liturgies have in common with Christian liturgies.
There are grounds to describe consumerism as a religion and the shopping mall as a religious arena for these reasons.However, Cavanaugh's work, in particular, highlights that consumerism trivializes all notions of the ultimate.According to the consumerist logic, whatever the consumer consumes has no value beyond the act of consumption itself.Accordingly, consumerism never leaves people feeling satisfied because, according to the consumerist logic, there is always something bigger, better, and newer to love and thus worthy of consuming.Consequently, consumerism cannot be regarded as a religion, as it does not facilitate the pursuit of anything that is ultimate.
Since it is not useful to define consumerism as a religion, it becomes crucial for theologians and other religious scholars to re-evaluate consumerism to identify its influence in society more clearly and how it affects religious practice -specifically how it trivializes religions' pursuits of the ultimate.However, one mistake when developing this criticism would be to put too much emphasis on the SBNR movement.As the article has argued, there is the risk that people who are part of the SBNR movement become affected by the consumerist logic.On the other hand, studies show that they have thoughtful and sophisticated approaches toward spirituality and that there are reasons to assume that they would be critical of any trivialization of the ultimate.Furthermore, the article has argued that an excessive focus on the SBNR movement can conceal the moment when the Church and other religions become affected by consumerism.
It is only possible to speculate what consequences the appropriation of consumerism has for religions.Perhaps the most prominent risk is, if religions embrace the consumerist logic, that their endeavors toward the ultimate become trivialized.Then, instead of actively participating in formative practices that enable the pursuit of a specific telos, religions are reduced to being yet other distributors of spiritual experiences among many in the spiritual marketplace.
One of the more problematic consequences of such a development is the effect on people's moral commitment.Among others, Pope Francis describes consumerism as an attitude that allows people to remain morally disengaged and lets them "take advantage of another, […] treat others as mere objects" (Francis 2015, 91).According to him, consumerism consequently does not only trivialize the ultimate, but also the good.Therefore, he describes consumerism as "the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience" (Francis 2014, 3; see also Cavanaugh 2008, 50-51, 91).Thus, instead of describing consumerism as a religion, a more appropriate understanding of consumerism would be a "moral attitude that trivializes the good and enables indifference towards suffering" (Portin 2020, 18).
As consumerism is associated with and influences the attitudes toward both the ultimate and the good, the competency of theologians and other religious scholars in studying and examining consumerism critically is beyond doubt.However, as I have also argued in this article, they risk making incorrect conclusions if they define consumerism as a religion.Notes 1.It is worth mentioning that Ira Zepp based his work on Eliade when making his initial analysis of the shopping mall from a phenomenology of religion perspective.2. Therefore, Smith describes liturgies as "pedagogies of desire" (Smith 2009(Smith , 64-65, 2013a, 12), 12). 3. What makes the shopping mall's liturgies potentially harmful is, according to Smith, that it is not always evident that the shopping mall's liturgies are, in fact, liturgies.Accordingly, people partake in formative practices without their knowledge, making it more difficult to resist their formative impact.However, by highlighting the shopping mall's formative character, its sacredness can be perceived, which makes resistance against its pedagogy possible (Smith 2009, 85-88).4. Researchers in psychology often emphasize that religion is a form of meaning making and that religions can be understood as "meaning systems" (Park, Edmondson, and Hale-Smith 2013). 5. Jock Young expresses a similar point when he emphasizes the following: "It is the workhorse of a consumerism which evokes self-realisation and but which all too frequently conveys a feeling of hollowness, and neverending extravagance, where commodities incessantly beguile and disappoint."(Young 2007, 3) 6.Similarly, Rowan Williams argues that "the rhetoric of consumerism", which is maintained by the advertising industry, "softens the elements of commitment and risk".Accordingly, advertising conveys the idea that consumption can be done without commitment or risk, which in turn "tends to treat its public as children."(Williams 2000, 23) 7. By the early twenty-first century, Sutcliffe maintains, "this diffuse and popularised discourse of spirituality […] has an almost entirely white, middle-class demography largely made up of professional, managerial, arts, and entrepreneurial occupations" (Sutcliffe 2003, 223).Accordingly, it is reasonable to suggest that it is the people who have the leisure time and the resources to consume this form of spirituality that are drawn to it.8.For an introduction to the 'Spiritual But Not Religious' field of research, see Parsons 2018.9.In a similar vein, Heelas has argued that New Age movements are not religious since they primarily focus on the internal and personal (Heelas 1994).10.This is partly what Ward argues in True Religion (2003): that late modern liberal societies liquidate religion by making it yet another commodity for consumption in consumer society.Accordingly, the way for Christianity (in Ward's case) to establish itself as a relevant actor on the public stage and in the lives of the faithful is to challenge its commodification-an individual and self-reliant expression of faith that is well situated in liberal society-and uncompromisingly to assert Christianity as a 'true' religion and not just as one religion among others.