Religion vs. Spirituality

There has been a lot of talk lately about the inviability of Religion. In particular, when compared to Spirituality. I have watched it escalate in the last few days from mildly irreverent, yet still amusing anecdotes, to highly offensive (and for me, that takes a lot) motifs.
I agree that now, as even in early times, religions get corrupted. Jesus railed against the corruption of the Pharisees and the Sadducees of the Temple; the atrocities that have been propagated by and within the Catholic Church over the centuries; Westborough Baptist Church... (need I say more?)...
But, the religious establishment and its sacraments has it's place in our world. Let me explain... no, that would take too long. Let me sum up:
Spirituality can be seen as our own personal journey in seeking communion with the DIVINE, the HOLY, the TRUTH, the SOURCE. What ever name you want to give it. We live in a human and mundane world, surrounded by all of our human and mundane trappings, events, and problems. Occasionally, we get a glimpse into the the realm of the DIVINE. In may be through our own efforts (by prayer, meditation, service, etc...), or by events outside of ourselves (actions of others, etc...). But these glimpses are fleeting. Sometimes they leave us inspired, sometimes they leave us in despair at their briefness (for want of holing on to them), but most of the time, they simple leave us, as we fall back into our mundane world, with our mundane trappings, events, and problems.
True story: a couple of weeks ago, I was driving home from work and listening to a very positive human interest story on NPR. I do not remember what the story was about, but at the conclusion of the story,  I remember looking at the sunset, and being washed over with a nearly incomprehensible JOY. I started crying, and laughing, and for a brief moment, I felt a deep connection with the HOLY.  Then I passed through an intersection, and it was gone. I was back to my daily drive home to see my family, eat dinner, check homework, et cetera. It is hard, in our mundane world to find those moments. And they cannot be forced, they cannot be cajoled into manifesting themselves. They come at the WILL of the HOLY.
Religion, its establishments and its sacraments, are our mundane, human world model and map for journey towards the DIVINE. The rituals of religion (sacraments) exist to serve as a reminder, and a doorway to this realm of spirituality. Priests and ministers are there (or should be there), to serve as our doormen, or even our guides.
When I was a practicing Wiccan, we held seasonal rituals to acknowledge the "turning of the wheel", and pay homage to the God and Goddess. We even sought to "draw them down", into our presence, or even into us. As a Christian, I go to church, and I see the Priests and Ministers delivering their sermons, and performing specific rituals, that are meant to remind us, and keep us connected, even if in a superficial way (although that is absolutely NOT the point), to the HOLY.
Every path of Spirituality has Religion. The moment it passes out of the HOLY realm of thought, and into the HUMAN realm of action, or form, or ritual, it becomes Religion.
This is not (or does not have to be) a bad thing. It serves a purpose. Where we get into trouble is when we stop seeing the ritual as a representation of the HOLY, and start seeing it as the HOLY. The trap to be fallen into is the one of thinking that one can, by ritual, control the HOLY, or control the experience of the HOLY. The HOLY cannot be controlled. It is only through DIVINE GRACE that one can experience DIVINE GRACE. In this is also falls the idea of exclusivity. That is, that this ritual is the only way to do this thing, and that any variation from it is wrong. This hardens our hearts, and walls us off from the experience of the HOLY. That is not to say that one should be a dilettante about it, and bounce around from practice to practice. This approach to seeking the DIVINE EXPERIENCE will lead to no good end. But I digress...

What I am getting at here is that the responsibility of Religion, ANY Religion, and its Ministers, is to serve as map, doorway, and guide to each of its congregation. We are all priests of the HOLY. Our Map of the realm of the HOLY is our church, or temple, or synagogue, or circle. Our Guides are our Priests, or Ministers, or Rabbis, or Gurus, and our Doorway is our rituals that we that we affect in our seeking of the TRUTH. What we do with our priesthood is the question... and the answer.