RE 588: ReligionRE 588: Religion
Recovery Elevator
Paul and Anita talk openly about religion, atheism, food addiction and long-term daily drinking, sharing how both have rethought alcohol’s place in their lives. The conversation focuses on finding connection, meaning and small practical steps towards a more honest, alcohol-free life.
45:39•25 May 2026
Religion, Ruled Books and Letting Go of the Bottle with Anita
Episode Overview
- Stopping drinking can be less painful than continuing a slow, "high-functioning" slide into deeper anxiety and depression.
- Religious trauma and rigid teachings can make traditional AA difficult; it’s valid to look for support that feels safe.
- Food, sugar and alcohol can all act as the same emotional anaesthetic, and swapping one for another rarely solves the core pain.
- Community, honest conversation and small daily actions (like walks, routines and honest check-ins) help build sustainable alcohol-free living.
- You don’t have to wait for a dramatic rock bottom; feeling that alcohol is "a niggle in your brain" may be enough reason to try life without it.
“If I'm still trying to use alcohol and make it work in my life, I'm just going to slip slide away. If I put it down, I can make progress in my life.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation on Recovery Elevator heads straight into two big hot potatoes: alcohol and religion. Host Paul Churchill opens up about his own religious scars, his hesitant return to church, and how he balances deep scepticism with a simple guide: "love thy neighbour" and learn to be kind to yourself first.
Then comes Anita, a 49-year-old family doctor from Bend, Oregon, who shares a story that will feel very familiar to anyone who has quietly kept "just a few" drinks going for years. Raised in a strict Christian group she calls a "meeting", she carried early trauma, food addiction, and later alcohol into adulthood. Anita talks through years of sugar binges, Overeaters Anonymous, grey sheet abstinence, and how alcohol slid in as the more socially acceptable anaesthetic when food stopped working.
She explains how her drinking stayed "high-functioning"—one to three drinks a night, sometimes more—but left her depressed, puffy, anxious and alone on the couch after intense days as a GP. Her first encounter with AA helped for a while, but religious language and a pointed comment about "God, not the group" pushed her back out. That made her look for something different.
The turning point came on 4 January 2026, when she finally stopped drinking, helped by Paul’s book and the line that hit her hardest: "Why would you want to have a relationship with a class one carcinogenic?" Since then she’s been using Recovery Elevator, Café RE, books, and long walks with nature to rebuild a life that feels real, not numbed.
You’ll hear about atheism, cult recovery, medicine, food addiction and quiet loneliness, all wrapped in honest humour and real-world honesty. If alcohol is "a niggle in your brain", as Anita puts it, what might happen if you gave your heart just one day without it?
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