Brothers and Sisters, I Implore You!

Religion: Belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator(s) or ruler(s) of the universe.

I recently attended a meeting where we had a typically lively discussion debating the difference between religion and spirituality. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of people staking out claims at each end of the spectrum. There's a large group of people who have had bad experiences with organized religion, and they can be vocal about it. Religion is a pretty big target if you're inclined to be cynical. My personal impression is that the vast majority of people who attend religious services are good people with good hearts trying to make a difference in a difficult world.

Regrettably, these folks don't make the news very often. We do get a steady diet of fundamentalist radicals committing violence or hypocritical preachers in $2000 suits asking for money with great emotion. A lot of wrongs have taken place under the watch of religion over the years. If you've had a bad experience it's pretty easy to pounce on these feelings. I'm an alcoholic after all. I'm much, much, much better at detecting small flaws than acknowledging obvious advantages.

I cringe when I hear someone say that they are "recovering " from a particular sect or denomination. We need to keep in mind that there are people who wander in with a strong religious faith and active alcoholism. Most of us know priests and rabbis in recovery, people who couldn't stop drinking even though they possessed deep and profound faith. We need to be careful when we take pot shots at any official group. We can't risk alienating anyone.

Most of us stroll in looking for any excuse to stroll right back on out. We need to be careful not to give anyone that excuse.