There is help for religious addicts.
In fact, many organizations have therapists who help on a voluntary
basis.
It is particularly worrying as often the religious addict has replaced
another addiction with that of religion and will most probably move on
to a different addiction when the euphoric high cannot be attained
anymore.
Compare alcoholism with religious addiction
An Alcoholic:
Mood alters up by drinking; mood alters down by not drinking or simply
by thinking about the prospect of not drinking.
Chooses to be with people who have a relation****p with alcohol similar
to their own; relation****ps with others become a casualty.
Gravitates toward places that cater to, are sympathetic to, or even
encourage using behavior (e.g., the local bar).
A Religious addict:
Mood alters up by behaving religiously; mood alters down when they
don't or can't (attend church, read the Bible daily, pray enough,
etc.) Attends church and activities with people who believe the same
or attends activities that are sponsored by like-minded groups and
organizations. Chooses to be with people who have a religious belief
system similar to their own, withdrawing from friends and even family
members who don't.
Religious addiction is not merely a personal matter. The religious
addict affects all the people around them -- family, neighbors,
friends, coworkers. They often see themselves as "annointed" and
"effective" representatives of God -- "truth-bearers" who, unlike other
people, refuse to compromise the mandates of scripture. They oppress
people with their words and demeanor, and when a religious addict moves
into church leader****p, the havoc wreaked is even more tragic -- at
least that has been my observation over the years. I've also seen how
religious addicts and religious zealots are often confused by people as
being the same thing. This may lead some to focus on the outer issues
(e.g. excessive use of Christianeese, over spiritualization of things)
without getting to the heart of the addiction.
But can religious behaviors also become a problem-become addictive?
Absolutely.
It may be easier to imagine what religious addiction looks like if you
think about extreme examples such as religious suicide cults or
religiously motivated extreme self-deprivations or self-injury. Our
experience, however, suggests that religious addiction is much more
common than you would conclude from looking only at the extreme cases.
A wide variety of religious behaviors have the potential for mood
alteration and therefore the possibility of becoming addictive.
Evangelism, wor****p, personal spiritual disciplines, church attendance,
service, and many other behaviors that are im****tant and praiseworthy
in a general sense can be subverted by the addictive process into very
harmful and destructive parts of our lives. This is an im****tant point.
Just because prayer is good does not mean that addictive prayer is
good. Just because wor****p is good does not mean that addictive wor****p
is good. Just because evangelism is good does not mean that addictive
evangelism is good. The addictive process can destroy the most precious
of God's gifts to us. Except perhaps as loose rhetoric, even getting
"addicted to Jesus" is not the solution to our problems with
addiction. Addiction to Jesus is just another addiction. God's desire
for us is not that we find the "right" addiction-Jesus. God's
desire is that we find a way to live without being addicted at all.
Sobriety is the solution, not being in an addictive relation****p to
God. The addictive cycle in religious addiction follows roughly the
same stages found in other addictions. The process begins with
preoccupation. We alter our mood up by thinking about, focusing on,
obsessing about our next religious experience, the next evangelism
op****tunity, the next wor****p service, the next retreat or whatever.
This preoccupation, while it may alter our mood up may also distract us
from im****tant parts of life. In most but not all cases, religious
addiction also involves a major element of ritualization. Our
pre-acting-out behaviors can become elaborate in religious addiction.
We may repetitively recite memorized prayers or biblical texts, we may
engage in what seems to others to be very Godly or pious behaviors.
Eventually our preoccupation and rituals lead to some kind of religious
acting out. As we have already emphasized, the specific behaviors that
are part of the acting-out stage can vary. Evangelism addicts may
experience an enormous rush when approaching a stranger with a
presentation of some kind, and with even more of a rush if the stranger
responds positively. Wor****p addicts may experience profound mood
alteration when the "Spirit descends." But all addicts eventually
find that their addictions lead to a stage in which their mood is
altered down. In some cases, questions or doubts may trouble us or even
plague us. We may become obsessed with whether or not we have done well
enough. Shouldn't we try harder and do more to stay out of trouble
with God? We may leave church on Sunday to face the next week
determined to live the Christian life, only to return the next week and
hear once again that it wasn't good enough. And for many, even if the
reminder doesn't come this week at church, it comes readily from the
echoes in our hearts and minds of past religious training. Addictive
religion never leads to soul rest. It always leads to trying, trying
harder and trying our hardest. It always leaves us tired, frustrated
and depressed. Just like addiction to alcohol and drugs, the acting-out
mood alters up, while the entire cycle mood alters down.
At its root, religious addiction begins when our faith stops being
about a spiritual connection with God and becomes instead an attempt to
control our lives-or to control God-by behaving in certain ways.
These behaviors seem to help us to control our mood, but that sense of
control is only an illusion.
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