Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
Church Addiction

Church Addiction

Last updated on: August 13, 2020 at 3:26 am by Karl J. Forehand

Church Addiction 2020-08-10T11:56:07-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” Karl Marx

Recently, we interviewed Cindy Wang Brandt on our podcast, The Desert Sanctuary. Don’t blame her for anything I say, but her suggestion inspired this thought process. She stressed that everyone should take a gap year off from church. Although I agree with this now, I could not have imagined that for the past 25 years. This got me to thinking about why I had never imagined this before. I had a hard time even taking a week off or not going to church on vacation when I was a pastor.

Could it be that I was addicted to religion and/or church?

Some of our ministry to smaller churches brought us into contact with addicts and former addicts. I noticed that those who were able to leave their addictions often developed addictions in other areas of their life. I am now considering the idea that maybe most of us at least have a low-grade addiction to several things in our lives. For some of us it is work–for others it is food–still others, it is appreciation and praise of others. Church and religion may not be the “worst” of our addictions, but it still seems like an addiction to me.

I believe church is designed to be addictive. Think about it. At the typical seeker-sensitive church someone greets you at the door, smiles at you, looks you in the eye and shakes your hand. This is terribly effective at making you feel welcome and valuable. You are “ushered” into a comfortable environment where soft music is usually playing. To me, church always smells good as well. I don’t know if it’s true, but it seems that way. I call the service the “show.” I don’t see it as a derogatory term, but it is a show. There are parts to play–it’s rehearsed–and it is orchestrated and designed to elicit a response. The sermon is prepared and usually involves a problem that is resolved in about 25 minutes.

The typical service at a typical church is ordered, pleasant, sometimes exciting, often moving and usually elicits some type of positive feeling. Many times, there is some positive change to our attitude and the way we approach life. But anything that alters our mood can also become addictive. It is not wrong that we get excited, or cry or even become sad. But it is problematic when the feelings and emotions don’t last and we have to return week-after-week to recharge. Often, religious people try to satisfy their addiction with doing more or obsessing over trying to do it better.

Religious addicts are pre-occupied with their rituals and their mood alters when they behave religiously. Dale S. Ryan and Jeff VanVonderen talk about religious addiction in their article, “When Religion Goes Bad.” Usually on Monday, when our mood alters downward, we become preoccupied with the thing that made us feel good. We go through ritualization or “pre-using” until we get the chance to do it again. When I was a preacher, church members repeatedly thanked me for giving them their fix. They often said, “I needed this” and complained of how that feeling most often didn’t last past their first day back to work. I would say that most of us who are religious are addicts to one degree or another. Ryan and VanVonderen say, “Anything that alters our mood can become addictive.”

“Hi, I’m Karl and I’m a churchaholic”

I have said to multiple people, “I really, really miss preaching.” I could give you lots of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is because it is a rush. Writing, to some degree, has elements of the same “fix.” When the thoughts come together and then when people respond, there is a rush of positive feeling that subsides when enough people criticize the work or even just when a little time passes–thus the addiction. I need to write something or preach or something–I need a fix!

I am not trying to convince people to stop going to church or stop writing or preaching or anything like that. Human beings have been finding ways to do religion since–well, since forever. We don’t need to eliminate sugary sweet food from the world–we just can’t get our sustenance from it–if we do, we’re going to become addicts. Instead, we need to find something deeper, something less mood altering and something more heart-nurturing.

I talked to a couple of other people recently–a couple of contemplatives. When they talked about their practices, they talked about them like the practices sustained them. They loved their practices, but they do not seem to be addicted to them. Instead, they even talked about setting practices aside for a time to try a new practice or even just to take some time off. There was less of a roller coaster and more of a peaceful journey.

These days I love less an emotional church service that fires me up! I prefer a practice that touches my heart and truly sustains me.

My son was a pastor’s kid most of his life. Much of his childhood was spent in the sound booth. He was my sound guy for many years. When he wrote a chapter in my book, he talked about some of the ridiculous things he saw in church. To be fair, he also talked about the things he didn’t like at school. He was probably the first in our family to call the church service “the show.” This kind of broke my heart, but I am actually glad he didn’t become addicted to religion or church. Instead, he found some good practices and developed into a tremendous human being.

I pray that you never become addicted to anything–not food, not work and not religion. What I pray for you is that you find the right practices that will sustain you.

Support us on Patreon * The Desert Sanctuary Website

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart and the soon-to-be released Tea Shop. He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary and Too Many Podcasters podcasts. He is married to his wife Laura of 32 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply!

Previous Post

August 11, 2020

The Map is Not the Treasure

Next Post

August 15, 2020 Resources for a Plant-based Lifestyle

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abuse Addiction Advent adventure Alpha Male Animals Answers Attachment Attitude authenticity Authenticty Authentiicity Awareness being Bible Black Community BLM body awarenss book Books Bravery Bullying Bypassing Certainty Certianty Chamge change children Christianity Christmas Church Comfort community Compaasion Compassion Complementarian Complementarianism Conditioning Consciousness Contemplation Control Conversation Converstations Covid-19 Creation Darkness Death Debate deconstruction demons depression desert Devil Disciples discussion Divine dreams Easter Eclipse Empathy Essence evolution evolve faith fatherhood Fear fiction Flood Focus Focusing Focussing Future Genesis Goals God Gratitude grief growth Guns Hate healing Health Heart Hell Holiday Hypnosis ignorance Improvement infallible Inner Child Integrity Intuition Jesus Jezebel Journey King LGBTQ+ Love MAGA Marriage meditation Men Mercy Message metaphysical Mindfulness Misogyny Mourning Music Mystic mystical Narcissism Nationalism Nature New Year Novel Nutrition Organization other Pain Pandemic parenting Pastors Patriarchy Patriotism Personal Growth Plan Poet poets Police politics Power practice praise Prayer presence pro-life Problem Solving Progress prolife Prophet prophets Purity Culture Purpose Queer Questions Racism Rape Rapture reconstruction Recovery Religion Resolutions Restoration Resurrection Retribution Reviews Root Cause Sanctuary Satan SBC Scripture Seeking Self-Care Self-esteem Seminary Sex Shadow shame social justice social media solitude Spirits Spirituality stillness Story Survivor Thanksgiving Theologians Theology Tradition Trauma travel Trump Uncategorized Unchurching Universe Violence Vision Voice Volunteer Vulnerability War Women Word worship Writing

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face, ____________.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Always Every Time Forever Eternally

Books by This Author Books by The Desert Sanctuary

See All Titles »