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I'm
very involved with ALANON, and what you say is right
on the money.
We learn that it is a total waste of time to try and
find logic in an illogical situation. We can't
figure out where the alcoholic is coming from, and try
as we may, we just end up confused, frustrated and demeaned.
Even with someone that has stopped drinking, the desire
for the high is still there - the alcoholic behavior
still persists. So we as Alanons learn to detach and
see the disease for what it is. We have to remember
we're dealing with a sick person. And if we keep reacting,
we too become sick. It ruins our self-esteem.
I never thought of the religious fundamentalist right-wingers
as addicts. But after reading your column I have to
say, the parallels with substance addiction are
stunning. They use that same hook to get "non-addicts"
to bite. And you're right, a healthy self-esteem is
where one needs to start so that one doesn't bite
By the way, thank-you so much for your pamphlets on
Burnout, etc. I do believe we averted a disaster here
with newfound insight.
-- Dallas, TX
What
a brilliant insight this article gives. It explains
so well why people seem to have a need to feel themselves
superior to others.
Recent studies have pointed to the blatant narcissism
of Tony Blair and many other politicians. Which might
explain why those f*****ts want to "rule the world"
in the first place.
However there really is no excuse for the invasive and
intrusive way government "rule" in these days.
We are all equal. We are all one.
-- London, England
The
whole article is excellent and really gives an insight
into why it is useless to argue religion or, I might
add, politics with certain people.
-- Melbourne, Australia
Simply
awesome. Your words are so on target, so clear,
and so helpful. Thank you.
-- St. Louis, MO
"Never
argue about whether sexual orientation is a choice.
It doesn’t matter."
AMEN and thank you for just putting that out there!
I worry that we try to claim (as homosexuals) that it
is not a choice, as if there would be something wrong
with us to choose to be queer.
--Charlotte,
NC
Thank
you Bob. On target.
Perhaps we can begin to overcome our own addictions
to being "right", which has helped feed the
unreal by reinforcing its false reality, by means of
arguing with it.
Its like trying to put out a grease fire with gasoline.
"I am as God created me" is repeated in three
lessons in A Course in Miracles. A good thought for
queers, and also the not so queer.
I like ACIM, because its tonality is more "just
thought you would like to know", rather than "this
is the truth, like it or your life is somehow ruined".
It claims to be but one of very many paths, and also
says of itself that it will someday no longer be necessary.
Other than that, I have no investment in believing that
the scribe of the course took literal dictation from
Jesus. I think it is all a bit more subversive than
that. ;-)
-- Overland Park, KS
I
think you're onto something here. It's hard, however,
to tell where and how an addiction begins/shows
up and what a "healthy religious faith/conviction"
is. As you say, we are so sick in some ways (all of
us through our conditioning and socialization) that
it's hard to be clear about many aspects of our lives.
I need to give this much more thought!
--
St. Louis, MO
This
makes so much sense. It's like a smack across the head
that woke me up. We need to rethink our strategies and
how we seem to still want the addicts to love us. Write
more.
-- Sacramento, CA
What
a clear revelation! And what relief to begin to understand
the dynamic behind these insensitive religious right-wingers!
They don't respond to reason, just more of their "fixes."
I already have "When You're Having a Religious
Argument" and I can't tell you enough how helpful
it is.
-- Seattle, WA
I could not agree more. Fundamentalists do not seem
to recognize themselves as the Pharisees of today. I
always thought it was a form of spiritual narcissism,
because like those with personality disorders they seem
to be void of empathy for others. The denial system
makes more sense however, but in any case my apologetic
attempts have been like trying to teach the proverbial
pig to sing. Thanks for your helpful thoughts.
-- Birmingham, AL
Just
read your article on religious addiction.
Would you like that to be your topic when you come to
PFLAG in April? It just blew me away.
I wanted to argue with it at first -- like can't there
be two sides to an issue -- but then it takes on its
own logic and is very powerful. You have a very
special gift and I'm thrilled you're willing to share
it with us.
-- St. Louis, MO
Interesting
read.
I had a related "epiphany" last summer: I
read an article in The Oregonian about one of the downtown
preachers that yells at passerbys about how they'll
be damned to hell if they don't accept Jesus. The article
went into some depth about his background, which included
drug abuse, etc. What struck me was that he was just
like George W. Bush: after quiting drugs, he was still
a narcissist unable to view the world except as it related
to himself. He couldn't see how anyone else could find
salvation unless they did it the way he did. Replacing
drugs with a bible. The only way to become
moral was to become born-again.
The religion-as-addiction of the religeo right-wingnuts
fits observed behavior and the arrogance of their belief
that only they can ever be right.
--
Portland, OR
I
just finished reading your article on the Whosoever
website about "When Religion Is An Addiction". I
have reached a point of despair recently with the state
of our country and what seems to be something like "Invasion
of the Bodysnatchers" going on in our government.
It is so difficult to fathom or begin to understand
how such outrageous and unreasonable ideology is allowed
to perpetrate in our society and control our basic freedoms;
to cause such divisiveness in our culture. How did it
get so out of control? Despite great things going on
in my own personal life, it has really been getting
me down because what goes on in my country hurts my
heart, right to my core. I read your article, and suddenly,
things make a lot more sense. And with that knowledge
comes a sense of power, and hope. Thank you so very,
very much for sharing this information at a time when
I desperately needed to understand, and to have hope. Thank
you, from the bottom of my heart.
--
West Los Angeles, CA
Well,
this approach certainly explains a lot of things. It
explains why one’s religious “education”
is actually better understood as indoctrination, and
why xians really don’t give a shit about the problem
of evil, even after all the reasons for their beliefs
are shown to be stupid, and especially when they repeatedly
fall back on (of all things) revelation as some form
of justification.
As one of my colleagues said a while ago, “It’s
like you can see the computer chip firing behind their
eyes as they talk.”
Really liked this part:
"Don’t let the addict get you off topic.
Addicts love to confuse the issues, get you talking
about things that don’t challenge their problem.
When you do, you further the addiction."
REALLY? HMMM, I WONDER. MAYBE I SHOULD DEFINE “ADDICTION.”
OR MAYBE DEFINE “CHALLENGE.” YEAH, THAT
SHOULD HELP THINGS.
-- Unknown location
Excellent
topic. I have been noticing that for some time now,
the more fundamental a religion gets the more like an
addict the follower behaves.
I’ve tried to tell myself that religion can be
a good thing, but i can’t anymore. ‘religion’
to me means organization and that’s instantly
where it falls apart for me. i can get behind ’spirituality’
- i think you can be spiritual and non-theistic, and
maybe to be truly part of this planet requires that
of us. but once you get organization, you get heirarchy,
and in this day and age that will patriarchal, mysoginist
and homophobic bureaucracy. and it makes the perfect
tool for the ruling class - i can’t imagine that
under any worker-planned worker-run aconomic system
that there would be a need for that big giant hand-holder
in the sky, because the power would be in our hands.
just found your blog the other day, articles like this
are making me glad i did.
-- Portland, OR
I have to say it, even if it won't be posted amongst
the comments on the page... this article is perhaps
one of the most scary things I've ever read. I believe
the last time someone so vehemently tried to dehumanize
an entire group, to paint them as the sole source of
a nation's problems, and to portray them as unthinking
automatons was right before that same person started
a holocaust that ended with more than 8 million innocent
people dead.
The point I'm getting at, however, is that you've just
failed entirely in the point of your own arguement...
the very words "You don't have to act as if here
are "two sides" to the debate." Indicate
that you're setting up your own counter-religion...
a group of fundamentalist atheists who have little
or no thought in their heads beyond the party line.
This is, you will realize, exactly the same as the
very thing you've promulgated as such an evil in your
article. This honestly suprises me that you're a college
professor as well: most of them that I met happened
to encourage logical debate and thinking on all sides
of an issue rather than your touted "plug your
ears and hum lalalalala" approach.
In the end, however, I know that one email is not going
to be enough to change the mind of an anti-religious
addict, so I wish you the best of luck in your establishment
of your own group of non-thinkers to pollute the
world of intellectual thought and debate.
— "Catholic priest,"
no location given |
