by Dale S. Ryan and Jeff VanVonderen
It is probably obvious to most people reading this that religion can “go bad.” Nothing too surprising there. You don’t really have to go further than the morning newspapers these days to learn that sometimes religious conviction can become horribly twisted and abusive.
(more…)by Dale S. Ryan and Jeff VanVonderen
In the first part of this series we introduced the idea that religion can “go bad.” This might not be a difficult or threatening topic for some people. If our experiences with religion have been neutral or positive, we may even find it difficult to imagine that religion can ever go bad. Many of us, however, have been exposed to environments where “religion gone bad” is not an abstract possibility but a personal and deeply painful reality. Many of us carry in our minds and our spirits the painful effects of religion that has done damage. Starting with this issue of STEPS we look at a variety of ways in which religion can become a problem in our lives—starting with religious addiction.
(more…)by Dale S. Ryan and Jeff VanVonderen
In the first installment of this series we introduced the idea that religion can “go bad.” In the second installment we talked about religious addiction. In this installment we want to discuss religious codependency.
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There is a lot of truth in an old slogan you sometimes hear in twelve step fellowships: “Talking about the spiritual part of the program is like talking about the wet part of the ocean”.
(more…)Substance Abuse
Sex Addiction
Gambling
Food
There are also many groups that welcome any member of an addicted family. For example:
by Jeff VanVonderen
In recent years the phenomenon of intervention has caught the eye of the broadcast media. And thanks to them, what people envision when they hear the word intervention usually falls into one of four categories.
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