Religious addiction
What is religious addiction?
In the past seventy-five years, two prominent books have been published on religious addiction, which some call “the “God Drug.” Father Leo Booth wrote When God Becomes a Drug back in 1946. In that book, he likened religious belief to poison in one’s life, in the same manner as a drug is to the body—both kill a person’s choice, leaving one feeling alone and isolated from family and friends and decreasing one’s ability to cope. Robert N. Minor added to the discussion with When Religion Is an Addiction in 2007. Darrell Ray in his book The God Virus went to even further extremes by likening religion to a virus that affects bombers, priests, and preachers alike and controls their behavior.
Curiously, Christian groups have been used most often as examples of religious addicts and deemed most susceptible because they are wrongly believed to be “shame-based” in their belief. According to some, the shame that accompanies religion causes believers to mechanically engage in religious rituals, similar to how a drug addict uses a needle. Those caught up in the rituals are perceived to be hateful toward their dependence on the God drug, and that explains why they lash out in violence and judgmentalism.
An example put forward of an “addict” lashing out is Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer who apparently experienced pain and suffering (e.g., kidney and gallstones) because of his religious need to confess sin. However, once he read the Bible for himself and came across the truth that redemption is obtained God’s grace, not by manic attempts at ritualistic fixes, his “religious addiction” was cured.
Luther’s story is an argument against the logic of the God drug. Christianity defies the very nature of religious addiction because Christianity is not a religion. It’s a relationship. Luther discovered that Jesus gives freedom from religious bondage.
The word religion comes from a combination of words meaning “to bind back.” Picture a mountain and people climbing up its slopes because they know they somehow are better off should they reach the top. They need to “get back.” The top of the mountain represents the “perfect” they need to recover, and by their works, they need to somehow achieve that “perfect.” Such a quest produces stress, worry, anxiety, and all that can be thought of as “not being good enough.” The Bible’s word for humanity’s state of “falling short of perfect” is sin (Romans 3:23).
Ironically, the one topic that all “religions” in the world basically agree on, without even realizing it, is sin. Everyone knows “there’s something wrong with us.” The problems arise when humans try to prescribe a cure for our sickness. Religion’s drug is to get us addicted to human effort to fix what we know is broken. That’s foolish, though, because broken stuff can’t fix broken stuff. Our quest toward the perfection religion promises only brings shame upon shame for every time we fail to reach utopia.
The good news is that Romans 10:11 interrupts our addiction and rampant search for broken identity through broken means. Paul says that those who believe in Jesus “will never be put to shame” because Christ started at the top of the mountain. He is God and thus perfect. Hebrews 4:15 describes how Christ didn’t just let us wallow in our filth; He came down the mountain to save us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (ESV).
The God drug books state that our perpetual craving to “work our way back to what we’ve lost” produces in us bondage, violence, and a myriad of physical, mental, and spiritual health issues. This is the exact reality the Bible teaches regarding sin. Sin makes us an addict of religion.
Thankfully, the symptoms of religious addiction are the very things from which Jesus can free us. He Himself is free, and there is nothing in the universe that has power over Him. He grants His power and freedom to those who trust in Him. He is the remedy to any addiction and any God drug. Jesus is the very rehab we need.
When Martin Luther understood that the Bible’s message of grace through faith, he was set free. He learned that we cannot seek our own frail works as a means to spiritual freedom; rather, we seek Jesus’ work.
In a world fraught with pain and the angst of knowing our shortcomings, the answer is not to throw ourselves into religious activity. Jesus is the remedy we need. “Come to me,” He says, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The relationship with God that Jesus offers results in restoration, freedom from shame, and the perfection of heaven.
