Bad Religion (4): Religious Obsession & Addiction

James L. Griffith, Ph.D., states in his recent book Religion That Heals, Religion That Harms: A Guide for Clinical Practice:

OCD is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by a range of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. Obsessions are recurrent or persistent thoughts, images, or impulses that a patient considers inappropriate but cannot control with willpower (e.g., aggressive or sexual thoughts, fears of contamination, pathological doubt). Compulsions are repetitive acts felt to have an irresistible urgency (e.g., cleaning, checking, counting) ... OCD turns moral guilt into self-flagellation. it uses the energy of religious life to drive rituals to undo the badness of blasphemous thoughts or immoral impulses (Griffith, p. 228).

It is not sinful to suffer from OCD. Unfortunately, OCD can hijack a person's religious beliefs and practices and turn them into a form of scrupulosity that may become sinful. Scrupulosity's sin is that of failing to trust the promise of God's grace.

I don't believe one has to suffer from OCD to commit the sin of Scrupulosity. Nevertheless, those who subscribe to legalistic beliefs hardly ever fail to fall into the sin of Scrupulosity. They may become obsessive about religious practices. Jesus described this inevitable result of legalistic faith when he said of the Pharisees: "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:24, NIV).

RELIGIOUS ADDICTION
Another alarming behavior problem that often stems from anxiety is religious addiction. "What's that?" you ask. Well, here's what Stephen Arterburn has to say about religious addiction:

Anyone can become addicted to just about anything. Whatever hides or kills the pain of being unable to process the conflicts of life will serve well as an addiction. The practice of faith and involvement in religion offer many potentially addictive components. One can become addicted to feelings of righteousness or feelings that come with finally being right about something; one can become obsessed with prayer; one can become addicted to emotional highs resulting from worship and praise; one can become addicted to feelings of belonging to something big. Being part of a group of other believers produces wonderful feelings. Those feelings of relationship should be enjoyed. They are addictive only when they become the purpose of the endeavor rather than a wonderful by-product of worshiping God. (Toxic Faith, p. 98).

Arterburn devotes a lot of space in his book Toxic Faith to clarify that "religious addiction" is similar but not the same as chemical addiction. It is a process addiction like compulsive gambling, or sexually addictive behavior, or compulsive shopping or hoarding. "Addiction" as a label identifies a set of behaviors, and unhealthy religious behaviors may take the form of an addiction.

Some people may wince when the term "addiction" is applied to unhealthy religious behaviors, since it may suggest that the behaviors are "beyond their control." But, this is a false understanding of addiction. Few alcoholics will say, "Yes, of course, I drink too much. I'm an alcoholic." Addicts will go to great lengths to deny they are addicted. Admitting to an addiction does not evade responsibility for the problem. Ironically, it is the denial of addiction that prevents one from taking responsibility for the problem.

Religious addiction may take the form of escapism. The religious addict finds relief from guilt and responsibility in religious experiences, practices, and gatherings. Instead of taking responsibility and repenting of sin and making any changes in their lives, the religiously addicted person finds religious behavior as a way to escape, just as a chemically addicted person uses drugs and alcohol to escape.

Religious addiction may also take the form of "churchaholism" (as Arterburn puts it). Arterburn says,

Like the workaholic who invests everything in work, avoiding the responsibilities that come with relationships, the religious addict creates an atmosphere that revolves around church work (Toxic Faith, p. 97).

Religious addiction may also take the form of Idolatry. Whenever something (anything) replaces God in our lives, we are practicing idolatry. This can be done with religion as much as anything else. Here's Arterburn again:

A religious addict replaces God with a caricature of God. The addict sees God with a scorecard, writing down every wrong thing that has happened. To the addict, the only way to erase sins from the scorecard is hard work. Hard work and the feelings derived from it replace God completely.

Some addicts replace God through their use of Scripture. This comment seems strange because most people use the Word of god to grow closer to him; meditation on God's Word and memorization of God's Word normally align believers with God. But for some people the Word can become a god unto itself. Memorization can become an addiction rather than an act of devotion. Individuals become obsessed with verses and, in the process, forget that verses are about a God who communicated his love to his people.

The churchaholic obsessed with Scripture stops communicating because he or she fills every conversation with verses and sermonettes. No one wants to listen to or even be around the person. Such a pseudo-speech becomes a form of religious intellectualism; someone becomes so immersed in an aspect of faith that real faith gets lost. The comfort of God is pushed aside by the self-induced comfort of superiority that comes from being able to rattle off a verse rather than connect with another human being as Christ did. (Toxic Faith, pp. 99-100).

So, Bad Religion often looks like obsession and addiction. True devotion may go even beyond the extremes of obsession and addiction. But, it will not look or act in the same way. Devotion to God might even lead one to sacrifice (like martyrs of the early church). Obsession and Addiction may involve sacrifices. But these sacrifices only serve the addiction or the obsession. God is not served, but replaced.

Remember, the behaviors are typically developed over time. Full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder and full-blown addiction do not develop over night. If we notice some characteristic of our religiosity that are unhealthy, we are well-advised to admit it and get help from a minister or Christian friend, and in some cases a Christian counselor. A good question to ask is this: "Is my religious behavior about God or about something unhealthy in me?"