When one goes by the standard definitions, religion is inferred as being an organized and shared belief system, whereas, spirituality seems to pertain more towards the metaphysical ideas of the individual actor.  Seen that way, religion could be said to be when two or more persons share a particular spirituality in common; whether those beliefs are given openly or in private, and also the number of believers in size, are irrelevant to my eyes. Spirituality itself seems rooted in our consciousness due to our inability to observe our own inner thoughts. Even today, the brain's processes arguably remain the only item on Earth not fully sensible using the common scientific method. Thus an aura of mystery permeates it.

      As an aside, I recently debated with two young Christian women of the Baptist persuasion on the subject of their faith. Being an atheist, I do this from time to time as a form of amusement and as a sort of cognitive exercise for myself, and also, hopefully, for my given opponent. In these discourses, I have come to find that there tend to be two kinds of argument that most often come to prominence – The first being subjective, and the second objective respectively. The former, a subjective discussion, usually involves battling over doctrine or specific beliefs; and the latter, objective, far rarer, is over whether or not there is any actual corroborative evidence for any given claims.

       When it comes to religion and spirituality at large, much time and energy is put forward by followers in the defense of their beliefs, as well as to the attack of the claims of other faiths. Between denominations and individuals I see an unhealthy amount of nitpicking over some slight, and some not so slight ideals. When pressed for why one's own faith is "true" over another's the response is almost always based on supposed personal revelations, or those of others whom they trust. Personal preference plays the de facto role in that exchange; when the time, however, comes for an objective argument involving proof, all have come up embarrassingly short.