Myth #1: People Have to Believe in God to Recover

Decoding Nine Myths About Recovery

In my novel, Stay Sober and Save the World the Cave Woman Way, Cave Woman and Sylvia (or Sil) develop an epistolary relationship with each other. The letter writing continues, as you’ll see below.

Myth #1: People have to believe in God to recover

Dear Cave Woman,

Do people have to believe in God or a higher power to recover from addiction? 

Dear Sylvia,

If belief in God was a requirement, there’d be very few people in recovery. People devoted to God often remain addicted, despite ardent prayers. Addiction is not a commentary on belief or devotion. If a person enjoys religion or spirituality, that's fine, but it’s not required. 

Also, some people are victims of religious trauma. It would be cruel to require a belief that reminds someone of a trauma.

Understanding how humans operate and the role addiction seeks to fill, benefits recovery.

I hear we can choose a God of our understanding but that eventually, we'll come to believe in God. To me, that implies an old-testament God, and that dude is mean and scary.

Belief in any kind of God is not required. 

How about this: In my community, we took care of each other. In fact, humans lived in cooperative, companionable communities for most of history. Do you ever feel love or awe or joy at any of your recovery meetings?

Occasionally. 

Joy, awe, or love aren’t quantifiable, yet they drive our yearning for a better life.

Do you believe in love?

Very much so.

Well, there you go. Maybe love is your higher power.