Spiritual not religious

One of the common things you hear in AA and NA is that its a "spiritual
program and not a religous program".


Silly statement. True religon is spiritual.Many people have been traumatized by hypocritical religious examples and rebel against anything religious for that reason. But to suggest that sincere religious people are not spiritual is to deny reality.


One guy I knew in NA complained to me one day that the people in the
Churches are hypocrites ( He was raised Roman Catholic and had even
been molested by a priest). Its no wonder he was turned off by such a
horribly wicked example. However, when you look at the typical NA
member I would say ( and did say) they are hypocrites too.


Another fellow I knew in AA was a Baptist preachers son. He had been
forced to go to church several times a week while growing up and
rebelled against the whole thing. As a result of the truama he had
absolutely no interest in Christianity; his associations had been all
negative. His spiritual search in NA involved Native Indian sweat
lodges and anything else as long as it had nothing to do with Christian
Spirituality.


The truama induced by wicked hypocritical religious examples can induce
a rebellion that can last a lifetime. The victim ends up throwing the
baby out with the bathwater. Both my friends needed to realize the
impact that trauma had on their lives. Maybe then they would have been
more open to religion.