"Christianity Is a Relationship, Not a Religion” — No. Just No.

I’m going to be blunt: I’m done pretending this phrase deserves respect.

“Christianity is a relationship, not a religion” is not a profound insight. It is not biblical wisdom. It is not theological depth. It is a cheap slogan, endlessly repeated, rarely examined, and almost always weaponized against Catholicism.

It’s tired. It’s misleading. And at this point, it’s intellectually embarrassing.

Let’s start with the obvious fact that somehow keeps getting ignored:
Belief in God is, by definition, religion.

You can stomp your feet, insist otherwise, and slap the word relationship on it all you want—but if you pray, read Scripture, gather for worship, sing hymns, celebrate ordinances or sacraments, submit to leaders, and teach doctrine, congratulations: you are practicing religion.

And no, renaming it doesn’t make it disappear.

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What Evangelicals Really Mean by “Religion”

Let’s stop playing games.

When many Evangelicals say “religion,” what they actually mean is Catholicism.

By “religion,” they mean:

• Authority

• Structure

• Hierarchy

• Rules

• Rituals

• Tradition

• History

In other words: the Catholic Church.

So they contrast it with their preferred slogan: “Just Jesus and the Bible.”

But here’s the problem: that is still religion.

A religion with:

• Its own rules

• Its own hierarchy (pastors, elders, boards, megachurch celebrities)

• Its own rituals (altar calls, communion, baptism)

• Its own traditions (Bible-onlyism, once-saved-always-saved, rapture theology)

You didn’t escape religion.
You just traded historic Christianity for a modern, DIY version of it.

As Protestant historian Alister McGrath bluntly states:

“Christianity is irreducibly a religion. Attempts to portray it otherwise are historically indefensible.”

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A Slogan Designed to Recruit the Rebellious

The real purpose of the phrase “relationship, not a religion” is not theological—it’s psychological and marketing-driven.

It’s aimed squarely at:

• Young people

• The anti-authority

• The rule-averse

• Those suspicious of institutions

It tells them what they want to hear:

• No rules

• No structure

• No accountability

• No history

• No Church

Just “me, Jesus, and my Bible.”

That sounds liberating—until you realize it’s completely foreign to Christianity as it actually existed.

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The First Christians Never Had This Option

Here’s the part that destroys the slogan entirely.

The early Christians had no concept of “relationship vs. religion.”

They lived in:

• Organized communities

• Under apostolic authority

• With bishops, presbyters, and deacons

• Practicing structured worship

Scripture itself says so:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.”
— Acts 2:42

That’s doctrine.
That’s authority.
That’s ritual worship.
That’s religion.

Even Protestant New Testament scholar N.T. Wright admits:

“The early Christian movement was not an unstructured spiritual experience; it was a disciplined, communal way of life.”

And Church historian J.N.D. Kelly (Anglican) writes:

“From the beginning, Christianity was marked by fixed beliefs, authoritative leadership, and sacramental practice.”

There is no version of early Christianity that looks anything like modern “no religion, just relationship” Evangelicalism.

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Jesus Didn’t Reject Religion — He Rejected Hypocrisy

Another lie embedded in this slogan is the idea that Jesus opposed religion itself.

He didn’t.

Jesus:

• Went to synagogue regularly (Luke 4:16)

• Observed Jewish feasts

• Quoted Scripture constantly

• Established sacraments

• Gave authority to the Apostles

• Founded a Church

What He condemned was hypocrisy, not religion.

As Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned:

“The call of Jesus Christ always leads to an obedient community.”

Not a free-floating, structureless spirituality.

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The Final Irony Evangelicals Never Address

Here’s the part I always find darkly amusing.

Catholics literally receive Jesus Christ—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—at every Mass.

Not symbolically.
Not emotionally.
Not metaphorically.

Actually.

Jesus Himself said:

“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
— John 6:56

You cannot get more personal than that.

If Catholicism is “religion without relationship,” then words have lost all meaning.

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Final Verdict

So no—just stop.

Christianity is not a relationship instead of a religion.
It is a relationship lived through religion.

It always has been.
From the Apostles.
Through the Church Fathers.
Through history.

“Relationship, not religion” isn’t deep.
It isn’t biblical.
It isn’t historical.

It’s just a slogan—used to dismiss Catholicism without having to actually understand it.

Christianity is both.

Always has been.