Category: From AA Agnostica

by Michael E

I am an addict, 71 years old and a little over 5 years clean. I am clean because of the Narcotics Anonymous program, and I am so very grateful for the NA program as well as AA and the other 12-step programs that help those suffering from various addictions. If I follow the program, I will not use – one day at a time.

We all agree that this past year has been horrific. I mourn the lives lost, the families torn apart, and the suffering that has touched us all in one form or another. The pandemic itself as well as the lockdowns and other efforts to get it under control have created huge challenges for everyone – including those of us in 12-step recovery programs.

As I write this in February 2021, there are still very few in-person, physical NA, AA, or other 12-step meetings. And that’s been difficult for many. But, we persevered. We adapted because staying clean is paramount to our lives and well-being. We found other means to connect – via telephone, text messaging, social media, socially-distant outdoor meetings, and especially through online, virtual meetings hosted on Zoom or other platforms.

This last alternative – video-based, online meetings – has not only allowed us to survive, it has enabled some communities to thrive, to connect and expand in ways we never thought possible. In particular, I am talking about my community – the secular, non-religious, Narcotics Anonymous community. Let me explain.

I am an atheist. I am very comfortable in my atheism. I’m not agnostic or troubled, and I don’t think about my atheism a lot except that since I accept that this is the only conscious life I will have as me, it’s precious. As an atheist, I appreciate every day, and that resonates so well with the “one day at a time” philosophy of NA and other programs.

While I am content in my atheism, I understand that others may feel differently. I can respect that – as long as they don’t try to push their beliefs on me or others or disparage those who think or practice differently than they do. But, that’s often the problem, isn’t it? Many so-called “believers” – especially those who subscribe to a well-defined religion – also believe that it is their responsibility and right to “save” me. This I find unacceptable.

Like many others, it was tough for me when I entered the rooms. Religious thinking and language – not just spirituality – pervades the 12-steps, the program, the literature and the meetings. My very first meeting was AA, and they started with the Serenity Prayer (which I love – except for the god part) and ended with the Lord’s Prayer (which I don’t know).

I moved on to NA because of this and also because my problem was more than just alcohol. I needed to identify as an addict. The groups, the 12-steps, and the program all resonated with my need to  do something drastic about my addictions, so I kept my beliefs to myself, interpreted and reworded the steps and readings as necessary, and got clean. After a few months, I did speak up at a rather large meeting about my atheistic approach to the program and how secular recovery was working for me. After I finished, there was a long silent pause, and I felt as if the entire group kind of moved back away from me. It was awkward to say the least.

I’m from the Seattle area, but I first got clean while in Florida. When I returned home after 3 months, I started going to meetings in Seattle. It was generally good, but I didn’t talk about my atheism when I shared. Then I heard about these folks who were meeting to talk about non-religious recovery. This wasn’t a typical 12-step meeting – it was a meeting talking about 12 step programs without the “G” word or “G” ideas or a religious higher power. WOW! This was for me.

These meetings (secular AA meetings) were a great experience – intellectually and emotionally and I soon discovered that there were plenty of them but very few (if any) Secular NA meetings.  There were none in our region so we decided to start one – Beyond Belief, Seattle-Everett, Washington. We did get some push-back at first from other NA members and groups – the usual, “you can’t get clean if you don’t believe in a higher power,” and we did have some difficulties in finding a place to hold our meetings. But, that only made us stronger and more determined to show that secular recovery is real, and for many of us, preferable.

That was about 5 years ago, and today we have a healthy but relatively small core membership. The group members are very enthusiastic in our meetings and we have a wide range of clean time – from days or months to over 30 years.  In 1989 World Services of NA commissioned an ad hoc committee to look into Special Interest Meetings (Bulletin 18). They reported that

Special Interest meetings have existed in Narcotics Anonymous for some time. There does not appear to be anything in the Twelve Traditions which cautions groups against holding special interest meetings, provided that the group has no requirement for membership other than the desire to stop using. Special interest meetings tend to survive and flourish in local NA communities where there is a need and desire for such meetings and do not exist in NA communities where there is no need nor desire.

In our meetings, we do some of the NA readings – but only the ones that do NOT mention god or a higher power: Who is an Addict, What is the NA Program, Why Are We Here, A Journey, We Do Recover. We emphasize that we are first and foremost an NA meeting, so anyone is welcome regardless of their beliefs or lack of beliefs.  We do make a special effort to make those who identify as religious to feel comfortable in our meetings. For a long time we were pleased to be one of a handful of secular meetings in Narcotics Anonymous (that we knew of).

And then Covid hit.

In March 2020, our meeting venue was required to close – and has remained closed for almost a year now. We had only one alternative to not shutting down: to go virtual. So, we quickly started meeting via Zoom. And then the magic happened – we started getting more attendees – from widespread geographic areas – Baton Rouge, Toronto, California, Maryland, Florida, Arizona, Colorado! And Melbourne, Australia – where there was a group just like ours – using the same name, “Beyond Belief.” It was like finding our long-lost family. Many of these people became regulars at our meetings, and we became regulars at theirs – in spite of the time differences. We now regularly get 15-30 attendees at meetings that used to attract half that number. And the energy is electric.

Many of our members have said – “there’s something special and energizing about these secular NA meetings.” We may be separated by many thousands of miles, but we are together in recovery. There are strong feelings of community and friendship among the group. And during sharing, many – MANY – express their appreciation of finally finding and being part of a secular recovery meeting where they can express their disbelief without risking judgement or negative feedback. Also, our diverse group of attendees span the full range of clean time – from less than a week to well over 30 years.

Everything isn’t perfect, of course. A few of the home group members don’t care for this online format, but we try to stay in touch using other means. And sometimes there are technical difficulties with bandwidth or Zoom itself. But the benefits far outweigh the limitations – so much so that we are committed to continuing the Zoom/online presence when we return to face-to-face meetings. Our new, global brothers and sisters are just too important to not have them at every meeting. We’ll figure out a way to make it as seamless as possible.

There are already a number of new developments from our connecting the secular NA community globally. We – the Beyond Belief groups in Seattle-Everett and Melbourne, Australia jointly launched a new virtual-only meeting – Beyond Belief International. This group meets at 9pmEST/6pm PST on Saturday in the US and 1pm EADT in Australia. And a new meeting was launched in Greeley, Colorado in early February. The first meeting had over 20 attendees.  There are weekly meetings in based in Paris (French speaking), Amsterdam, London, Melbourne and the Seattle, Santa Cruz and Creeley in the USA.

We are also starting to organize more as a global community and have launched a very basic new website, Secular NA, that seeks to provide accurate up-to-date information about secular NA meetings worldwide as well as resources. There is also an active Facebook group, The Secular NA Coffee Shop, which was created in 2016 by members in the UK and Australia.

We are excited about the future of non-religious, Secular Narcotics Anonymous. We appreciate very much the model, encouragement, and support of the secular AA community, and we look forward to mutually-helpful collaboration and coordination in the future.

Stay safe, healthy, and clean.

---

Michael E is a grateful, recovering addict. He is a member of the Beyond Belief Seattle-Everett NA group and trusted servant/secretary of the Beyond Belief International NA group. He is an official “old guy” in years, but a “pup” in recovery time with just a little over 5 years clean.

---

 

The post Secular NA – Connecting Globally Amid a World in Crisis first appeared on AA Agnostica.

Originally published in Our Primary Purpose,
the newsletter of the Ottawa Area Intergroup

Covid-19 helps Ottawa’s secular sobriety movement

Little did Michel D know when he started Ottawa’s first secular AA group, in early March 2016, that five years later there would be three weekly secular meetings on the calendar. And that a global pandemic might be helping to encourage both newcomers and old-timers alike to try a new and different Alcoholics Anonymous experience.

When Covid-19 shuttered doors to the rooms of AA, members started going online. And some have decided to take advantage of the opportunity to explore new approaches like secularism.

What is Secular AA? It’s a movement that seeks to widen our view so that all who suffer may discover long-term sobriety in AA regardless of their belief or lack of belief in a God.

“I already had 30 years of sobriety when I started that first secular meeting and it was still scary to go against the flow, and to try doing something outside the AA mainstream,” said Michel.

But as Ottawa’s secular movement celebrates it’s 5th anniversary, Michel can take pride in the idea that he and others are truly part of a growing global effort pushing AA to become an ever more inclusive fellowship, one that welcomes the suffering alcoholic no matter what their religious affiliation or belief system might be.

“With over 500 (secular) fellowships world-wide using the 12 Steps as a framework for recovery, there’s no denying the impact that AA founders Bill W and Dr. Bob have already had. And just as these far-reaching fellowships have reinterpreted the 12 Steps, AA must continue to do the same if it’s going to survive and stay relevant,” said Michel.

Like other so-called “special purpose groups” under the AA umbrella, secularism can be, for some, a polarizing notion, pitting believer against non-believer. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Our goal here in Ottawa is to be as open-minded as possible, so that anyone, no matter how they approach their sobriety, can feel at home in our midst. Our secular credo gives everyone the ability to freely express themselves, while asking that they offer the same courtesy to others in the discussion,” said Michel.

Andy Mc had almost 40 years of sobriety when he discovered Secular AA, and he’s convinced the pandemic played a role in opening the door to a whole new chapter of his recovery journey. If not by design, then perhaps by the grace of a Higher Power.

Last spring, Andy, who is retired and spends his time between Bracebridge and London, Ontario, was focused on trying to help his home group transition to virtual meetings. Unfortunately, his group did not survive the move online, so he went searching for alternatives.

“I wasn’t necessarily looking for a secular option when I googled AA meetings online. But a group in Florida, called OMAGOD – Our Mostly Agnostic Group of Drunks, caught my eye, so I decided to check it out. I really liked their approach, and after the novelty of going to a Florida-based meeting wore off, I decided to look for secular groups closer to home.”

That’s when he discovered Ottawa’s Secular Sobriety Group which meets Sunday night, online, at 7:30 pm. Now, almost a year into the pandemic, Andy is attending upwards of five secular meetings a week, mostly based out of Eastern Ontario. He also attends Ottawa’s Beyond Belief Secular Group, Thursday night, 7 pm.

“I’ve learned to tone it down over the years; at one time I could get into a pretty heated discussion with some members of the fellowship who I thought were a bit too rigid in their thinking. I just couldn’t let others try to tell me that I would only stay sober if I believed in God.”

Andy said what keeps him coming back to secular meetings is the free-thinking; he’s convinced that more and more members are taking advantage of online platforms to kick the tires on Secular AA.

“No doubt in my mind, Covid-19 and the endless list of online meetings all over the country, and the world, has cemented the ‘secular’ movement within AA. And I think that’s great. It’s given people like me who were feeling restless and disenfranchised a way to stay more engaged and connected to this amazing program.”

The AA tent is getting bigger

As recent as 2000, there were no more than 50 secular AA meetings across the globe. By the time the pandemic hit there were around 600. Now, a year later, there are easily more than 1,000 such meetings worldwide.

“It’s been most encouraging to see how quickly AA adapted to the new normal after Covid-19 arrived,” said Joe C, a leader in the Toronto secular movement, and a founder of the group Beyond Belief Agnostics & Freethinkers.

“We are seeing our numbers swell. Our Saturday discussion group is now attracting more than 100 participants. And it’s not only agnostics and atheists who are showing up. We have plenty of so-called believers who are also joining us. Some of them had simply walked away from AA. They weren’t mad, just fatigued, and simply looking for something new and different to fill the void.”

Joe points to the many and diverse AA special interest groups that have started over the past few decades. Groups for women, African Americans, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered people, young people, seniors, professionals, special needs people, Indigenous peoples, and many more.

“In the end, those who have moved away from the mainstream are simply doing what Bill W had wished for. He called it pioneering, and he insisted that AAs had to continue to go through the same pioneering efforts in order to keep the fellowship vital and relevant.”

---

---

The post Five Years Old and Growing Stronger first appeared on AA Agnostica.

Originally published in Our Primary Purpose,
the newsletter of the Ottawa Area Intergroup

Covid-19 helps Ottawa’s secular sobriety movement

Little did Michel D know when he started Ottawa’s first secular AA group, in early March 2016, that five years later there would be three weekly secular meetings on the calendar. And that a global pandemic might be helping to encourage both newcomers and old-timers alike to try a new and different Alcoholics Anonymous experience.

When Covid-19 shuttered doors to the rooms of AA, members started going online. And some have decided to take advantage of the opportunity to explore new approaches like secularism.

What is Secular AA? It’s a movement that seeks to widen our view so that all who suffer may discover long-term sobriety in AA regardless of their belief or lack of belief in a God.

“I already had 30 years of sobriety when I started that first secular meeting and it was still scary to go against the flow, and to try doing something outside the AA mainstream,” said Michel.

But as Ottawa’s secular movement celebrates it’s 5th anniversary, Michel can take pride in the idea that he and others are truly part of a growing global effort pushing AA to become an ever more inclusive fellowship, one that welcomes the suffering alcoholic no matter what their religious affiliation or belief system might be.

“With over 500 (secular) fellowships world-wide using the 12 Steps as a framework for recovery, there’s no denying the impact that AA founders Bill W and Dr. Bob have already had. And just as these far-reaching fellowships have reinterpreted the 12 Steps, AA must continue to do the same if it’s going to survive and stay relevant,” said Michel.

Like other so-called “special purpose groups” under the AA umbrella, secularism can be, for some, a polarizing notion, pitting believer against non-believer. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Our goal here in Ottawa is to be as open-minded as possible, so that anyone, no matter how they approach their sobriety, can feel at home in our midst. Our secular credo gives everyone the ability to freely express themselves, while asking that they offer the same courtesy to others in the discussion,” said Michel.

Andy Mc had almost 40 years of sobriety when he discovered Secular AA, and he’s convinced the pandemic played a role in opening the door to a whole new chapter of his recovery journey. If not by design, then perhaps by the grace of a Higher Power.

Last spring, Andy, who is retired and spends his time between Bracebridge and London, Ontario, was focused on trying to help his home group transition to virtual meetings. Unfortunately, his group did not survive the move online, so he went searching for alternatives.

“I wasn’t necessarily looking for a secular option when I googled AA meetings online. But a group in Florida, called OMAGOD – Our Mostly Agnostic Group of Drunks, caught my eye, so I decided to check it out. I really liked their approach, and after the novelty of going to a Florida-based meeting wore off, I decided to look for secular groups closer to home.”

That’s when he discovered Ottawa’s Secular Sobriety Group which meets Sunday night, online, at 7:30 pm. Now, almost a year into the pandemic, Andy is attending upwards of five secular meetings a week, mostly based out of Eastern Ontario. He also attends Ottawa’s Beyond Belief Secular Group, Thursday night, 7 pm.

“I’ve learned to tone it down over the years; at one time I could get into a pretty heated discussion with some members of the fellowship who I thought were a bit too rigid in their thinking. I just couldn’t let others try to tell me that I would only stay sober if I believed in God.”

Andy said what keeps him coming back to secular meetings is the free-thinking; he’s convinced that more and more members are taking advantage of online platforms to kick the tires on Secular AA.

“No doubt in my mind, Covid-19 and the endless list of online meetings all over the country, and the world, has cemented the ‘secular’ movement within AA. And I think that’s great. It’s given people like me who were feeling restless and disenfranchised a way to stay more engaged and connected to this amazing program.”

The AA tent is getting bigger

As recent as 2000, there were no more than 50 secular AA meetings across the globe. By the time the pandemic hit there were around 600. Now, a year later, there are easily more than 1,000 such meetings worldwide.

“It’s been most encouraging to see how quickly AA adapted to the new normal after Covid-19 arrived,” said Joe C, a leader in the Toronto secular movement, and a founder of the group Beyond Belief Agnostics & Freethinkers.

“We are seeing our numbers swell. Our Saturday discussion group is now attracting more than 100 participants. And it’s not only agnostics and atheists who are showing up. We have plenty of so-called believers who are also joining us. Some of them had simply walked away from AA. They weren’t mad, just fatigued, and simply looking for something new and different to fill the void.”

Joe points to the many and diverse AA special interest groups that have started over the past few decades. Groups for women, African Americans, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered people, young people, seniors, professionals, special needs people, Indigenous peoples, and many more.

“In the end, those who have moved away from the mainstream are simply doing what Bill W had wished for. He called it pioneering, and he insisted that AAs had to continue to go through the same pioneering efforts in order to keep the fellowship vital and relevant.”

---

---

The post Five Years Old and Growing Stronger first appeared on AA Agnostica.

Chapter 12:
Do Tell! Stories by Atheists and Agnostics in AA

Betsy M.

My father got sober in AA in 1952. He drove two hours round trip to the nearest city to attend the only weekly meeting in his region. I was five, but I have no memories of my father as a drinker. He didn’t try to frighten us kids away from alcohol, but he did tell us that AA was the place to go if we ever “got into trouble” with booze. As far as I knew, my father had never lied to me, so in 1984 I took his advice. I was 37, and I had been unsuccessfully trying to control my drinking. At my first meeting, I felt hopeful. I realized that I could get sober in AA. Though I saw no one at that meeting who seemed “like me”, I identified with at least one thing each person said. After the meeting, a scary looking guy came up to me and said: “Just don’t drink, even if your ass falls off”. That I understood his warning as sage advice certainly speaks to how ready I was for AA.

In the small town where I got sober, I ran into God problems almost immediately. My first roadblock was The Big Book. I couldn’t stand it. It struck me as a self-help book for Christian men from my father’s generation. I am a woman, a feminist and an atheist who came of age in the 1960s, not the 1940s. The Book was not written with me in mind, and no matter how hard I tried to twist the language to make it fit, it didn’t.

The second roadblock was The Lord’s Prayer. One of my regular meetings closed with that prayer. At first, I didn’t recite the prayer, not because the words offended me, but because I don’t believe them. A few well-meaning people urged me to “fake it ‘til you make it”. I didn’t want to bring negative attention to myself, so I decided to conform. I felt in my gut that if I was going to keep coming to AA, which I absolutely had to do, I needed to avoid alienating myself from the people whose help I needed.

After my first anniversary, I got a sponsor. Like all the AA women I knew, her higher power was God. In fact, she had just converted to Catholicism. She was, fortunately, willing to allow me to work the Steps without trying to force me to define a higher power for myself. She told me not to worry, that she understood that “some of us take longer than others”. By the time I got to my 5th Step, I was trying to be opened-minded. I thought maybe I should give the higher power thing a try. I had met a lot of people who seemed happily sober. And while I was grateful to be sober, I was certainly not happy during those first couple of years.

I began my exploration with a book of daily readings, consisting of an AA-related reflection, followed by a prayer. Although I tried to approach this sincerely, saying the prayer made me feel like a phony, so I gave it up. I also met with a professor of theology, a friend of a friend. She gave me interesting things to read, from many monotheist traditions, and we met once a month to discuss them. I found many of the writers intelligent and persuasive. Still, I was not persuaded. By my third year, I decided I had given God an honest try, and I returned to my former belief (or nonbelief). I didn’t share my decision with anyone because I didn’t know anyone I thought would accept it. I remember I felt lonely about that. I had a family and a demanding job. Otherwise, I might have looked outside my town for some meetings with like-minded women.

By the time I’d been sober six years, I was going to only one meeting a week. I appreciated my sober life. I liked the person I had become, and I never had a desire to drink. I also hadn’t changed my ways in AA. I was friendly with only a handful of people. I didn’t go to retreats, or listen to tapes, or join in AA social events. After I completed the steps, I drifted away from my sponsor, and didn’t look for another. Though I was respected in meetings as someone with solid sobriety and a good message, I was rarely asked to sponsor, perhaps because I wasn’t an insider. Also, I didn’t usually reach out to newcomers because I didn’t feel I could be honest about my atheism. It’s hard to guide someone through the Steps and avoid the God talk and I believed newcomers were better off if they could fit in. In 1994, when I was ten years sober, I had a new relationship and began skipping my Sunday morning meeting. In a few months, I drifted away.

In 2004, after a decade away from AA, I returned. I had experienced a number of losses, and I thought meetings might chase away my despair. It worked. I soon felt better – more hopeful, more energetic. I was, however, disappointed to see that AA was still conservative. At that time, many newcomers were calling themselves “cross-addicted”, and they were meeting resistance. Some of the members, mostly “old-timers”, claimed that AA is for alcoholics only. Though the label “cross-addicted” was never banned, those who used it knew they were being tolerated more than accepted. I was twenty years sober, and I still didn’t know another AA atheist.

In 2005, I moved to another small town in a nearby state. The town was politically progressive, so I assumed that would spill over into AA. Not so. If anything I found meetings to be even more structured with less opportunity for free discussion. Fortunately, I finally did meet a couple of fellow travelers, Thom and Dominick. We began to talk about the need for a meeting for agnostics and atheists. Thom researched agnostic AA meetings online and printed out some materials, including an alternative form of the Twelve Steps. We were good to go. We named our group “We Are Not Saints”. We spread the word, at first, by announcing it at other meetings. Though we heard some grumbling and rumors of opposition, we had no trouble getting the meeting listed. Our group has been meeting for several years with a steady attendance of 10-15, many of whom are newcomers.

After 30 years, I can unequivocally say that I owe my sober self to AA. I doubt I would have made it through my first sober decade without going to meetings. I am cheering the current movement of freethinkers for challenging conservative AA. In 2014, my buddies, Thom and Dominick, attended the first AA convention for agnostics, atheists and freethinkers in Santa Monica. They returned beyond enthusiastic about the potential for this new movement.

If it succeeds, and AA begins to welcome and accept agnostics, atheists and freethinkers, countless suffering alcoholics who see AA as a religious organization will begin to lead sober lives, finally comfortable in the rooms of AA.

---

This is a chapter from the book: Do Tell! Stories by Atheists and Agnostics in AA.

The paperback version of Do Tell! is available at Amazon. It is also available via Amazon in Canada and the United Kingdom.

It can be purchased online in all eBook formats, including Kindle, Kobo and Nook and as an iBook for Macs and iPads.

---

The post God Problems first appeared on AA Agnostica.

Chapter 12:
Do Tell! Stories by Atheists and Agnostics in AA

Betsy M.

My father got sober in AA in 1952. He drove two hours round trip to the nearest city to attend the only weekly meeting in his region. I was five, but I have no memories of my father as a drinker. He didn’t try to frighten us kids away from alcohol, but he did tell us that AA was the place to go if we ever “got into trouble” with booze. As far as I knew, my father had never lied to me, so in 1984 I took his advice. I was 37, and I had been unsuccessfully trying to control my drinking. At my first meeting, I felt hopeful. I realized that I could get sober in AA. Though I saw no one at that meeting who seemed “like me”, I identified with at least one thing each person said. After the meeting, a scary looking guy came up to me and said: “Just don’t drink, even if your ass falls off”. That I understood his warning as sage advice certainly speaks to how ready I was for AA.

In the small town where I got sober, I ran into God problems almost immediately. My first roadblock was The Big Book. I couldn’t stand it. It struck me as a self-help book for Christian men from my father’s generation. I am a woman, a feminist and an atheist who came of age in the 1960s, not the 1940s. The Book was not written with me in mind, and no matter how hard I tried to twist the language to make it fit, it didn’t.

The second roadblock was The Lord’s Prayer. One of my regular meetings closed with that prayer. At first, I didn’t recite the prayer, not because the words offended me, but because I don’t believe them. A few well-meaning people urged me to “fake it ‘til you make it”. I didn’t want to bring negative attention to myself, so I decided to conform. I felt in my gut that if I was going to keep coming to AA, which I absolutely had to do, I needed to avoid alienating myself from the people whose help I needed.

After my first anniversary, I got a sponsor. Like all the AA women I knew, her higher power was God. In fact, she had just converted to Catholicism. She was, fortunately, willing to allow me to work the Steps without trying to force me to define a higher power for myself. She told me not to worry, that she understood that “some of us take longer than others”. By the time I got to my 5th Step, I was trying to be opened-minded. I thought maybe I should give the higher power thing a try. I had met a lot of people who seemed happily sober. And while I was grateful to be sober, I was certainly not happy during those first couple of years.

I began my exploration with a book of daily readings, consisting of an AA-related reflection, followed by a prayer. Although I tried to approach this sincerely, saying the prayer made me feel like a phony, so I gave it up. I also met with a professor of theology, a friend of a friend. She gave me interesting things to read, from many monotheist traditions, and we met once a month to discuss them. I found many of the writers intelligent and persuasive. Still, I was not persuaded. By my third year, I decided I had given God an honest try, and I returned to my former belief (or nonbelief). I didn’t share my decision with anyone because I didn’t know anyone I thought would accept it. I remember I felt lonely about that. I had a family and a demanding job. Otherwise, I might have looked outside my town for some meetings with like-minded women.

By the time I’d been sober six years, I was going to only one meeting a week. I appreciated my sober life. I liked the person I had become, and I never had a desire to drink. I also hadn’t changed my ways in AA. I was friendly with only a handful of people. I didn’t go to retreats, or listen to tapes, or join in AA social events. After I completed the steps, I drifted away from my sponsor, and didn’t look for another. Though I was respected in meetings as someone with solid sobriety and a good message, I was rarely asked to sponsor, perhaps because I wasn’t an insider. Also, I didn’t usually reach out to newcomers because I didn’t feel I could be honest about my atheism. It’s hard to guide someone through the Steps and avoid the God talk and I believed newcomers were better off if they could fit in. In 1994, when I was ten years sober, I had a new relationship and began skipping my Sunday morning meeting. In a few months, I drifted away.

In 2004, after a decade away from AA, I returned. I had experienced a number of losses, and I thought meetings might chase away my despair. It worked. I soon felt better – more hopeful, more energetic. I was, however, disappointed to see that AA was still conservative. At that time, many newcomers were calling themselves “cross-addicted”, and they were meeting resistance. Some of the members, mostly “old-timers”, claimed that AA is for alcoholics only. Though the label “cross-addicted” was never banned, those who used it knew they were being tolerated more than accepted. I was twenty years sober, and I still didn’t know another AA atheist.

In 2005, I moved to another small town in a nearby state. The town was politically progressive, so I assumed that would spill over into AA. Not so. If anything I found meetings to be even more structured with less opportunity for free discussion. Fortunately, I finally did meet a couple of fellow travelers, Thom and Dominick. We began to talk about the need for a meeting for agnostics and atheists. Thom researched agnostic AA meetings online and printed out some materials, including an alternative form of the Twelve Steps. We were good to go. We named our group “We Are Not Saints”. We spread the word, at first, by announcing it at other meetings. Though we heard some grumbling and rumors of opposition, we had no trouble getting the meeting listed. Our group has been meeting for several years with a steady attendance of 10-15, many of whom are newcomers.

After 30 years, I can unequivocally say that I owe my sober self to AA. I doubt I would have made it through my first sober decade without going to meetings. I am cheering the current movement of freethinkers for challenging conservative AA. In 2014, my buddies, Thom and Dominick, attended the first AA convention for agnostics, atheists and freethinkers in Santa Monica. They returned beyond enthusiastic about the potential for this new movement.

If it succeeds, and AA begins to welcome and accept agnostics, atheists and freethinkers, countless suffering alcoholics who see AA as a religious organization will begin to lead sober lives, finally comfortable in the rooms of AA.

---

This is a chapter from the book: Do Tell! Stories by Atheists and Agnostics in AA.

The paperback version of Do Tell! is available at Amazon. It is also available via Amazon in Canada and the United Kingdom.

It can be purchased online in all eBook formats, including Kindle, Kobo and Nook and as an iBook for Macs and iPads.

---

The post God Problems first appeared on AA Agnostica.

by David W

This past year AA Area 83, where my home group resides elected to add an accessibility chair to its service structure. In several areas, accessibility has traditionally been lumped in with treatment. Locally it has been decided that a standalone structure is needed to address the diverse barriers that are preventing people from accessing the fellowship and support that AA can offer.

I consulted a GSO Guidelines document to get an idea of how the current scope of accessibility is defined. Here is the document: Accessibility for All Alcoholics.

Briefly, the guideline’s primary focus is to aid groups in accommodating people with physical and mental limitations such as being wheelchair bound, sight and hearing impaired, the home or hospital bound, those with chronic illness, strokes, and brain injury. It is critical for AA to address these barriers to make the fellowship available to these individuals.

What is not discussed in the document are the more subtle, harder to quantify barriers that are based on personal biases and narrow beliefs about what AA should be. A common dilemma voiced in secular meetings is how the individual struggles with the insistence that a belief in god is critical to recovery. The olive branch of “a god of your understanding” simply does not work for many. I submit that there are those who have found AA non-accessible because their core beliefs conflict with the god-based doctrine that is actively promoted in many meetings and the legacy literature.

A belief in god is not the only philosophical barrier that exists in AA, but it seems to be the one that people stumble over the most.  A common manifestation of the issue is the insistence of repeating the Lord’s Prayer at the end of many meetings and other gatherings. At the Area 83 Assembly in Kingston Ontario in the spring of 2019, a motion was put forward to close assembly speaker meetings with the Lord’s Prayer. Fortunately, the motion was defeated with an over three quarters majority voting against.

Despite the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal forcing Toronto Intergroup to reinstate secular groups in its meeting listings, it continues to promote religiosity and a belief in god actively in its monthly newsletter, Better Times. The tone of language used in the publication leaves little room for an alternative view. A few random quotes from various issues over the past year:

“With perseverance and acceptance in all aspects of our lives, good things will happen in God’s time.” (December 2020)

“God had miraculously removed from me the craving for alcohol… As I began to accept God’s companionship, His grace and His will for me…” (September 2020)

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.” (July 2020)

There may be no more glaring insistence that god is the central authority in AA than tradition two that states that “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”  AA’s true authority and guidance has been the collective conscience and participation of the membership. Removing god’s alleged part in AA governance would more accurately reflect this reality.

God shows up as a change agent in no less than five of the original twelve steps. Additionally, in step two, “a Power greater than ourselves” implies god with a capitalized “P “. The granting of a god of our understanding seems to have been intended as a temporary placeholder, meant to appease those misguided souls that are struggling with their faith until they surrender and come to accept the existence of the one true god.

Step eleven in The Twelve and Twelve states: “To certain newcomers and to those one-time agnostics who still cling to the AA group as their higher power…”.  In chapter five of the Big Book, How It Works, the alcoholic is informed “That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.” Hopelessness is quickly replaced by hope by proclaiming “That God could and would (relieve our alcoholism) if He were sought”.

A lack of faith-based neutrality is an inherent problem in AAs service structures. God centric literature is actively promoted and distributed. Two local districts in Toronto recently donated copies of the Big Book to CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Among the responsibilities for Corrections locally is to ensure copies of the Big Book and the Twelve and Twelve are available in the prison system.

Despite the growth of secular AA, the fellowship is very much still a prisoner of its historic roots in Judeo-Christian culture. The Big Book and Twelve and Twelve continue to occupy a prominent place as literature recommended to the recovering alcoholic. A few months before in person meetings in the greater Toronto area were shut down due to Covid19, I did a quick survey of the meeting listing on the Toronto Intergroup web site. Of the approximate five hundred meetings listed, about twenty percent identified as Big Book meetings. An additional thirteen percent identified as step meetings. Assuming the majority of these were using the Twelve and Twelve (admittedly I was unable to verify this), about a third of all local meetings were using readings from these two books.

In writing this article I have focused primarily on dogmatic religious and god centric barriers. Turning attention to other segments of the AA population indicates inroads are being made to make the fellowship more welcoming and inclusive to different groups. There are meetings for women, for the LGBTQ community, for young people and for those of different ethnic groups and languages. In 2018 AA published the pamphlet “Do You Think You Are Different?”.  It contains thirteen stories from an array of people who make up diverse segments of the general population.

The most recent comprehensive membership survey I could find on the Alcoholics Anonymous website is from 2014. It states the average age of an AA member to be 50 years old. The same year the average age of a US and Canadian citizen were 37.7 and 40.5 years, respectively. Of all occupations of members, retired people make up the largest category. AA is overwhelmingly white at 89% of the total membership population.

A look at Area 83 statistics for 2020 shows most members at, close to, or over retirement age. Men make up 56% of the local area membership, women 33%, and 11% are identified as others. White members make up 86% of the overall local fellowship.

A curious omission from the surveys is the lack of data on member’s religious affiliations and faith-based beliefs or disbeliefs. This is hardly surprising given AA’s insistence that an acceptance of the existence of a god comparable to that found in Christian culture is essential and promoted in the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve. It is assumed that when one acquires an acceptance of such a being, contrary beliefs will simply disappear. Better to let the sleeping dog lie than to collect data that might draw attention to the to the narrowness of the foundational books.

AA is making efforts to accommodate people of diverse backgrounds and needs. The statistics indicate only partial success. Despite the reality that we are confronted with an affliction that knows no gender, racial, socioeconomic, or sexual preference barriers, we are still very much an old white male hetero Christian based fellowship. We are learning to welcome and respect diversity and change but the battle to create a fellowship that is inclusive for all is made more arduous by our insistence in clinging to archaic outdated dogmatic literature.

---

David is a sixty two year-old agnostic alcoholic whose drinking career began late in life after growing up with an alcoholic father. After twelve years of daily drinking, he came to believe that a substance greater than himself trapped him in the same addictive cycle that had trapped various members of his family on both sides. Desperate for outside help, he found secular AA on-line in 2018 and was able to avoid the conflict with religion and a mandatory belief in god that traditional AA insists on imposing on members. His home group is Beyond Belief Toronto and he celebrated two years sobriety in December 2020.

---

This is David’s fourth article on AA Agnostica: Here are the previous three:

• Defining Recovery in AA in the 21st Century (January 3, 2021)
• Can AA Please Evolve? (November 15, 2020)
• Why Are 12-Step Fellowships so God Centric? (October 18, 2020)

---

 

The post AA Is Becoming More Accessible. Is It More Inclusive? first appeared on AA Agnostica.

by David W

This past year AA Area 83, where my home group resides elected to add an accessibility chair to its service structure. In several areas, accessibility has traditionally been lumped in with treatment. Locally it has been decided that a standalone structure is needed to address the diverse barriers that are preventing people from accessing the fellowship and support that AA can offer.

I consulted a GSO Guidelines document to get an idea of how the current scope of accessibility is defined. Here is the document: Accessibility for All Alcoholics.

Briefly, the guideline’s primary focus is to aid groups in accommodating people with physical and mental limitations such as being wheelchair bound, sight and hearing impaired, the home or hospital bound, those with chronic illness, strokes, and brain injury. It is critical for AA to address these barriers to make the fellowship available to these individuals.

What is not discussed in the document are the more subtle, harder to quantify barriers that are based on personal biases and narrow beliefs about what AA should be. A common dilemma voiced in secular meetings is how the individual struggles with the insistence that a belief in god is critical to recovery. The olive branch of “a god of your understanding” simply does not work for many. I submit that there are those who have found AA non-accessible because their core beliefs conflict with the god-based doctrine that is actively promoted in many meetings and the legacy literature.

A belief in god is not the only philosophical barrier that exists in AA, but it seems to be the one that people stumble over the most.  A common manifestation of the issue is the insistence of repeating the Lord’s Prayer at the end of many meetings and other gatherings. At the Area 83 Assembly in Kingston Ontario in the spring of 2019, a motion was put forward to close assembly speaker meetings with the Lord’s Prayer. Fortunately, the motion was defeated with an over three quarters majority voting against.

Despite the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal forcing Toronto Intergroup to reinstate secular groups in its meeting listings, it continues to promote religiosity and a belief in god actively in its monthly newsletter, Better Times. The tone of language used in the publication leaves little room for an alternative view. A few random quotes from various issues over the past year:

“With perseverance and acceptance in all aspects of our lives, good things will happen in God’s time.” (December 2020)

“God had miraculously removed from me the craving for alcohol… As I began to accept God’s companionship, His grace and His will for me…” (September 2020)

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.” (July 2020)

There may be no more glaring insistence that god is the central authority in AA than tradition two that states that “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”  AA’s true authority and guidance has been the collective conscience and participation of the membership. Removing god’s alleged part in AA governance would more accurately reflect this reality.

God shows up as a change agent in no less than five of the original twelve steps. Additionally, in step two, “a Power greater than ourselves” implies god with a capitalized “P “. The granting of a god of our understanding seems to have been intended as a temporary placeholder, meant to appease those misguided souls that are struggling with their faith until they surrender and come to accept the existence of the one true god.

Step eleven in The Twelve and Twelve states: “To certain newcomers and to those one-time agnostics who still cling to the AA group as their higher power…”.  In chapter five of the Big Book, How It Works, the alcoholic is informed “That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.” Hopelessness is quickly replaced by hope by proclaiming “That God could and would (relieve our alcoholism) if He were sought”.

A lack of faith-based neutrality is an inherent problem in AAs service structures. God centric literature is actively promoted and distributed. Two local districts in Toronto recently donated copies of the Big Book to CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Among the responsibilities for Corrections locally is to ensure copies of the Big Book and the Twelve and Twelve are available in the prison system.

Despite the growth of secular AA, the fellowship is very much still a prisoner of its historic roots in Judeo-Christian culture. The Big Book and Twelve and Twelve continue to occupy a prominent place as literature recommended to the recovering alcoholic. A few months before in person meetings in the greater Toronto area were shut down due to Covid19, I did a quick survey of the meeting listing on the Toronto Intergroup web site. Of the approximate five hundred meetings listed, about twenty percent identified as Big Book meetings. An additional thirteen percent identified as step meetings. Assuming the majority of these were using the Twelve and Twelve (admittedly I was unable to verify this), about a third of all local meetings were using readings from these two books.

In writing this article I have focused primarily on dogmatic religious and god centric barriers. Turning attention to other segments of the AA population indicates inroads are being made to make the fellowship more welcoming and inclusive to different groups. There are meetings for women, for the LGBTQ community, for young people and for those of different ethnic groups and languages. In 2018 AA published the pamphlet “Do You Think You Are Different?”.  It contains thirteen stories from an array of people who make up diverse segments of the general population.

The most recent comprehensive membership survey I could find on the Alcoholics Anonymous website is from 2014. It states the average age of an AA member to be 50 years old. The same year the average age of a US and Canadian citizen were 37.7 and 40.5 years, respectively. Of all occupations of members, retired people make up the largest category. AA is overwhelmingly white at 89% of the total membership population.

A look at Area 83 statistics for 2020 shows most members at, close to, or over retirement age. Men make up 56% of the local area membership, women 33%, and 11% are identified as others. White members make up 86% of the overall local fellowship.

A curious omission from the surveys is the lack of data on member’s religious affiliations and faith-based beliefs or disbeliefs. This is hardly surprising given AA’s insistence that an acceptance of the existence of a god comparable to that found in Christian culture is essential and promoted in the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve. It is assumed that when one acquires an acceptance of such a being, contrary beliefs will simply disappear. Better to let the sleeping dog lie than to collect data that might draw attention to the to the narrowness of the foundational books.

AA is making efforts to accommodate people of diverse backgrounds and needs. The statistics indicate only partial success. Despite the reality that we are confronted with an affliction that knows no gender, racial, socioeconomic, or sexual preference barriers, we are still very much an old white male hetero Christian based fellowship. We are learning to welcome and respect diversity and change but the battle to create a fellowship that is inclusive for all is made more arduous by our insistence in clinging to archaic outdated dogmatic literature.

---

David is a sixty two year-old agnostic alcoholic whose drinking career began late in life after growing up with an alcoholic father. After twelve years of daily drinking, he came to believe that a substance greater than himself trapped him in the same addictive cycle that had trapped various members of his family on both sides. Desperate for outside help, he found secular AA on-line in 2018 and was able to avoid the conflict with religion and a mandatory belief in god that traditional AA insists on imposing on members. His home group is Beyond Belief Toronto and he celebrated two years sobriety in December 2020.

---

This is David’s fourth article on AA Agnostica: Here are the previous three:

• Defining Recovery in AA in the 21st Century (January 3, 2021)
• Can AA Please Evolve? (November 15, 2020)
• Why Are 12-Step Fellowships so God Centric? (October 18, 2020)

---

 

The post AA Is Becoming More Accessible. Is It More Inclusive? first appeared on AA Agnostica.

by bob k

The more liberal talk that’s heard around the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous can convey the impression that conventional AA is user-friendly to those of us in the atheist-agnostic camp. Phrases like “Higher Power” and even “higher power” suggest the sanctioning of a wide range of beliefs. The invitation to choose one’s “own conception of God,” while not as welcoming as the traditionalists imagine, is better than nothing. There’s a hint of what’s to come with the faux flexibility of “God as we understood Him.” (oopsy)

Naturally enough, the Bigga Booka is what it is. The “Power greater” options disappear on page 46 where we learn “that Power… is God.” One’s “own conception of God” also has a limited shelf life. “Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach… At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth….” (BB, pp. 46-47) Thus, the weasel words vanish in a puff of incense.

Nonetheless, the nonbeliever is invited to “keep coming back.” He is invited to embrace the more pragmatic philosophy of his new friends. He is further invited to abandon his belligerent denial – to let the scales of unreasoning prejudice fall from his eyes. “I used to be a militant atheist, just like you.”

When it comes to the religious roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, those also are what they are and there’s much more to all of that than the Oxford Group. Today we’ll take a look at some of AA’s other religious predecessors. Admittedly, Buchman’s evangelicals were directly responsible for the arrival of Ebby Thacher at the home of his old school chum, Bill Wilson. In late November of 1934 that Ebby brought the “good news” that a decision for Christ had released him from his obsession for alcohol.

“I’ve got religion,” he proclaimed!

When his drunken friend asked for further clarification, Thacher replied: “Yes, Bill, I can provide that. The magical mystery cure is coming to take you away; coming to take you away.”

* * *

Pietism

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) was a Lutheran pastor who found himself increasingly disenchanted with his church’s focus on ritual and dogma. He thought that congregants should have a greater role than that of mere audience members at the Sunday morning salvation show. In 1675, Spener published Pious Desires, a call for a “religion of the heart” rather than of the head. Christians were urged to seek a personal experience with God and to maintain a continuous openness to spiritual illumination.

Spener stressed the need for ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, asceticism, and mysticism. A deeper emotional experience was to be had from one’s religion. Centuries later, a Cocaine Anonymous speaker was noted for saying: “God is the best drug there is, and there’s an unlimited supply.”

Jesper Swedberg (1653-1735)

Swedberg was a prominent member of the Swedish clergy, court chaplain, professor of theology in the University of Uppsala, and later bishop of Skara. When his family was ennobled in 1717, it took the name “Swedenborg.”

Britannica

Swedberg traveled through Europe in the 1680s and was attracted by Spener’s ideas. He came to believe that personal transformation could be brought about by spiritual rebirth and renewal. The case is easily made that ten generations later, personal transformation through spiritual rebirth would form the very essence of the Twelve-Step process.

“Spirits and angels were entrusted, and Swedberg claimed the Lord had saved his life more than once, which He did by giving Swedberg direct messages, warning him of dangers.” (fampeople.com) The Oxford Group called direct messages from God “guidance.” Such direction was available to all who sought.

… coming to take you away.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

Jesper Swedberg’s son was something of a da Vinci. After graduating from the University of Uppsala, he visited Germany, Holland, France, and England where he pursued his interests in physics, mechanics, mathematics, and philosophy. He also wrote poetry. As his family had status but limited wealth, Swedenborg forged a career as a scientist and inventor with Sweden’s Department of Mines.

In his mid-50s, the pastor’s son began experiencing strange dreams “of a grossly sexual nature.” (britannica.com) Swedenborg was pressed to confront the ego-driven elements of his burning desire to be recognized as a great man of science. From 1743-1744, two forces – the love of self and the love of God – battled for supremacy. Throughout this existential crisis, the scientist repeatedly heard voices and experienced visions. A waking vision of the Lord told him to quit his job.

He retired from the world of science to take up a new mission as a man of God – a very special man of God, by his own accounts. Ten years into his religious vocation, he declared that the “Second Coming of Christ” had indeed taken place. Christ had arrived, not in person, but through His chosen agent, Emanuel Swedenborg. He declared that he had been given the power to freely visit heaven and hell and to converse with both angels and demons.

In spite of the strange nature of many of his claims, Swedenborg had followers. These included William Butler Yeats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James Sr., and the family of the AA founder’s wife, Lois Burnham Wilson.

Henry James Sr.

The curse of mankind, that which keeps our manhood so little and so depressed is its sense of selfhood, and the absurd abominable opinionatedness it engenders.

The Three Jameses: A Family of Minds, Hatley C. Grafton, p. 84

The father of William James inherited enough money to live as a man of leisure. He studied for the ministry but rejected much of what he was being taught. While in his early thirties, he fell into a two-year period of spiritual crisis. Biographers have suggested that James exhibited the classic symptoms of bipolar disorder. Carl Jung suffered similar “psychotic episodes,” later referring to his experience as “a confrontation with the unconscious.”

James felt a presence that was less benevolent than Bill Wilson’s Towns Hospital visitor – “a perfectly insane and abject terror, without ostensible cause and only to be accounted for, by some damned shape squatting invisible to me within the precincts of the room and raging out from his fetid personality influences fatal to life.”  (Henry James, F.W. Dupee, p. 50)

Through rigorous self-examination and the study of Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings, Henry James Sr. eventually escaped the most severe aspects of his depression and stopped self-medicating with heavy drinking. He influenced his son and William is credited with influencing Alcoholics Anonymous.

Swedenborgianism made its way to AA via other pathways.

Nathan Burnham (1813-1889)

Dad’s father, Nathan Clark Burnham, practiced law and medicine, and was a minister of the Swedenborgian Church in Lancaster (Pennsylvania)…

Lois Remembers, Lois Wilson, p. 2

N.C. Burnham was more than a mere minister. He was a theologian and authored Discrete Degrees, a New Church text. Lois and her family members were rigorous adherents to the faith. There can be little doubt that Bill Wilson learned at least the basics of the quirky religion of his wife and in-laws.

His friendship with Rogers Burnham and later, his courtship of Lois, brought the emotionally needy young man into the company of the fascinating family of a medical doctor. Surely Bill relished the sophisticated dinner conversations so unlikely at the home of his elderly wards, the Griffiths. “Lois’s father, Dr. Clark Burnham was to have a tremendous if somewhat indirect influence on Bill’s life.” (Bill W., Robert Thomsen, p. 16)

New Thought*

The most obvious connecting link between Alcoholics Anonymous and the New Thought movement comes through William James who “had found answers to his depression and doubts about his self-worth from… New Thought teachings, which he termed ‘mind-cure’ … While New Thought organizations never became very large, their ideas have wide acceptance in general society and influenced early AA… The principal benefit was much like the program of the Oxford Group and the claims of William James in his seminal book. It transformed religious beliefs into a plan of action that individuals could follow for their own benefit in solving problems in the here and now.” 

New Wine, Mel B., p.105

* For a more detailed look at New Thought see Beyond Belief – New Thought and AA

New Thought began with Phineas Quimby (1806-1866), a Portland Maine clockmaker “who practiced mesmerism and developed his concepts of mental and spiritual healing and health based on the view that illness is a matter of the mind.” (britannica.com)

New Thought spawned Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) had been a patient of Quimby’s.”Did Christian Science teachings have anything to do with the forming of AA and the evolution of the Twelve Steps? Bill Wilson, months before he met up with the Oxford Group, had read and reread Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in the hope of overcoming his drinking….” (New Wine, Mel B., p. 104)

Faced with both the fear created by the fire and brimstone of the Second Great Awakening and the sterility of scientific empiricism “New Thought counters with an unflinchingly positive view of life and its outcome. By… resigning the care of your destiny to higher powers… the believer gives the little compulsive self a rest.” (Language of the Heart, Trysh Travis, p. 77)

The magical mystery cure is coming to take you away.

“James characterized New Thought’s highest aim as an undoing of the modern norms of vigilance and aggression, the cultivation of ‘passivity, not activity; relaxation, not intentness.’” (Travis, p. 78) The Emmanuel Movement joined Christian Science and New Thought as “‘harmonial religions’… in which spiritual composure, physical health, and even economic well-being are understood to flow from a personal rapport with the cosmos.” (The Road To Fellowship, Richard Dubiel, p. 2) The cosmos, or God, or Him perhaps.

AA’s Tenth Step promises are dripping with passivity:

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone – even alcohol …. We will seldom be interested in liquor…. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given to us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality – safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed.“

By the Giant Remover, you know, “Him”

Early AA members were all over New Thought literature such as James Allen’s As A Man Thinketh, and The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox. New York AA’s frequently showed up in groups to listen to Fox carry the message. New Thought also produced positive thinkers like Norman Vincent Peale, Marianne Williamson, and Rhonda Byrne.

* * *

Positive affirmations can be seen in AA’s Bigga Booka: “Rarely have we seen a person fail…”; “We have recovered”; “… the problem has been removed”; etc. Of course, at the core of all of this personal transformation is the Grace of God. “God could and would if He were sought.”

Sadly, amidst all of the curing of Swedenborgianism, New Thought, Christian Science, and Alcoholics Anonymous, the number of healed amputees remains at zero. This limit of the magical mystery cure is particularly disappointing as the capital “C” Curer could repair a legless man with a snap of His Divine fingers.

After all: … there is one who has all Power – that One is God. May you find Him now. 

Choose your own conception of Him, if you wish, but don’t stray too far from AA’s religious roots.

---

Bob k, the author of 2015’s Key Players in AA History, is working to get two new books into print in 2021. The Road To AA: Pilgrims to Prohibition looks at America’s various efforts to deal with the problems that come with alcohol consumption. In The Secret Diaries of Bill W., a work of biographical fiction, the AA founder gives us an account of his life in his own words.

---

To date, bob k has written a total of 52 articles on AA Agnostica (those by Bobby Beach have a check mark – ). Here are his earlier articles:

• The Virtual 2020 Secular AA Conference (December 20, 2020)
• “We’re Spiritual Not Religious.” “Oh, Please!!” (October 4, 2020)
• Sleight of Hand; Slight on “Real” Inclusivity (September 20, 2020)
• THUMPERTOWN THEATRE PRESENTS… Bill and Bob go to the Library (May 24, 2020)
• What If We Built It And Nobody Came? (May 13, 2020)
• The Underground Railroad (April 26, 2020)
• The One and Only Kool-Aid (February 23, 2020)
• Tales of Spiritual Experience (January 19, 2020)
• The Rainbow Group (January 8, 2020)
• WRITING the BIG BOOK: The Creation of AA (November 17, 2019)
• Unintended Consequences (March 31, 2019)
• We Are Diversity (March 20, 2019)
• Freaken Big Book Fundamentalists Hate Freaken Everything (February 24, 2019)
• The Sad Tale of the Founder of Moderation Management (January 6, 2019)
• Bill W, LSD and AA Spirituality (November 18, 2018)
• Lord’s Prayer Threatened – Fundies go Wild (June 28, 2017)
• A Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous (June 4, 2017)
• The Kawartha Freethinkers (May 21, 2017)
• The Search for Self-Esteem (March 30, 2017)
• The Watering Down of AA (March 16, 2017)
  
• Remembering Ernie Kurtz (January 19, 2016)
• Carl Gustav Jung (June 28, 2015)
• Anne Smith (April 26, 2015)
• Jim Burwell (March 22, 2015)
• Dr. Bob – Part Two (Akron-Style AA) (January 25, 2015)
• William Duncan Silkworth (October 22, 2014)
• Lois Wilson (October 5, 2014)
• Bill Wilson and Other Women (October 1, 2014)
• Sylvia K. – First Lady of Chicago AA (September 14, 2014)
• William James and AA (August 24, 2014)
• Slaying the Dragon (July 2, 2014)
• Alcoholism – What’s It All About? (May 25, 2014)
• Twelve Steps to Psychological Good Health and Serenity (April 23, 2014)
• Dr. Bob, AA Co-Founder – Part One (March 30, 2014)
• Young Bill Wilson – Part Two (December 1, 2013)
• Young Bill Wilson – Part One (November 24, 2013)
• Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group (November 3, 2013)
• Charles B. Towns (October 6, 2013)
• Clarence Snyder: Almost Co-Founder (September 15, 2013)
• Anonymity in the 21st Century (April 21, 2013)
• Marty Mann and the Early Women of AA (April 14, 2013)
• Edwin Throckmorton Thacher (Ebby) (February 3, 2013)
• Christmas, Christians, Lepers, and Alcoholics (Revisited) (December 23, 2012)
• Twentieth Century Influences on AA (November 18, 2012)
• Short of a Game Changer – Appendix II (October 21, 2012)
• God As We Understood Him (June 17, 2012)
• Heathens, Spies, Websites, Water-boarding & Carrot Cake (April 1, 2012)
• AA in the 1930s: God As We Understood Him (February 8, 2012)
• Does AA Need Religion: Agnostics on CBC Radio (January 29, 2012)
• Our Father Who Art Not in Public Schools (January 15, 2012)
• Christmas, Christians, Lepers and Alcoholics (December 29, 2011)

And here are the 32 articles by bob posted on the AA Beyond Belief website (again with a check mark – – for those by Bobby Beach):

• Pandemics, Zoom and Happy Heathens (October 25, 2020)
• Sam Shoemaker (September 6, 2020)
• Richmond Walker (July 12, 2020)
• Fundamentalism’s Foibles and Follies (May 31, 2020)
• Billy Sunday (March 8, 2020)
• A Heathen Looks at the Twelve Steps (January 19, 2020)
• Powerlessness and Other Stuff (December 8, 2019)
• AA Incorporated (November 10, 2019)
• Our Perfectly Imperfect AA Founder (October 27, 2019)
• Lordy! Lordy! Lordy!!! (August 11, 2019)
• New Thought and AA (July 7, 2019)
• Dr. Benjamin Rush (June 16, 2019)
• Rowland Hazard (May 26, 2019)
• Florence Rankin (March 17, 2019)
• Ebby Thacher – An Unhappy Life (February 3, 2019)
• Selling AA – Early Publicity (May 6, 2018)
• Not Just the Washingtonians Part II (April 30, 2017)
• Toronto Agnostic AA Groups Win Fight for Inclusion (February 12, 2017)
• Floggings, Strychnine, Leeches, and Worse (November 13, 2016)
• Not Just the Washingtonians (April 17, 2016)
• Henrietta Sieberling (March 2, 2016)
• THE COMMON SENSE OF DRINKING | Richard R. Peabody (1931) (February 2, 2016)
• Willard Richardson and the Rockefeller People (February 3, 2016)
• Remembering Ernie Kurtz (January 19, 2016)
• Positive Affirmations and the Placebo Effect (January 17, 2016)
• The Washingtonian Society (January 6, 2016)
• The Fraud that is AA Fundamentalism (January 3, 2016)
• AA’s Sister Ignatia (December 2, 2015)
• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS UNIVERSAL EDITION, By Archer Voxx (November 18, 2015)
• The LSD Experiments (October 21, 2015)
• Jerry McCauley – The Water Street Mission (October 14, 2015)
• Henry Parkhurst (October 7, 2015)

---

The post The Magical Mystery Cure (is coming to take you away) first appeared on AA Agnostica.

by bob k

The more liberal talk that’s heard around the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous can convey the impression that conventional AA is user-friendly to those of us in the atheist-agnostic camp. Phrases like “Higher Power” and even “higher power” suggest the sanctioning of a wide range of beliefs. The invitation to choose one’s “own conception of God,” while not as welcoming as the traditionalists imagine, is better than nothing. There’s a hint of what’s to come with the faux flexibility of “God as we understood Him.” (oopsy)

Naturally enough, the Bigga Booka is what it is. The “Power greater” options disappear on page 46 where we learn “that Power… is God.” One’s “own conception of God” also has a limited shelf life. “Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach… At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth….” (BB, pp. 46-47) Thus, the weasel words vanish in a puff of incense.

Nonetheless, the nonbeliever is invited to “keep coming back.” He is invited to embrace the more pragmatic philosophy of his new friends. He is further invited to abandon his belligerent denial – to let the scales of unreasoning prejudice fall from his eyes. “I used to be a militant atheist, just like you.”

When it comes to the religious roots of Alcoholics Anonymous, those also are what they are and there’s much more to all of that than the Oxford Group. Today we’ll take a look at some of AA’s other religious predecessors. Admittedly, Buchman’s evangelicals were directly responsible for the arrival of Ebby Thacher at the home of his old school chum, Bill Wilson. In late November of 1934 that Ebby brought the “good news” that a decision for Christ had released him from his obsession for alcohol.

“I’ve got religion,” he proclaimed!

When his drunken friend asked for further clarification, Thacher replied: “Yes, Bill, I can provide that. The magical mystery cure is coming to take you away; coming to take you away.”

* * *

Pietism

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) was a Lutheran pastor who found himself increasingly disenchanted with his church’s focus on ritual and dogma. He thought that congregants should have a greater role than that of mere audience members at the Sunday morning salvation show. In 1675, Spener published Pious Desires, a call for a “religion of the heart” rather than of the head. Christians were urged to seek a personal experience with God and to maintain a continuous openness to spiritual illumination.

Spener stressed the need for ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, asceticism, and mysticism. A deeper emotional experience was to be had from one’s religion. Centuries later, a Cocaine Anonymous speaker was noted for saying: “God is the best drug there is, and there’s an unlimited supply.”

Jesper Swedberg (1653-1735)

Swedberg was a prominent member of the Swedish clergy, court chaplain, professor of theology in the University of Uppsala, and later bishop of Skara. When his family was ennobled in 1717, it took the name “Swedenborg.”

Britannica

Swedberg traveled through Europe in the 1680s and was attracted by Spener’s ideas. He came to believe that personal transformation could be brought about by spiritual rebirth and renewal. The case is easily made that ten generations later, personal transformation through spiritual rebirth would form the very essence of the Twelve-Step process.

“Spirits and angels were entrusted, and Swedberg claimed the Lord had saved his life more than once, which He did by giving Swedberg direct messages, warning him of dangers.” (fampeople.com) The Oxford Group called direct messages from God “guidance.” Such direction was available to all who sought.

… coming to take you away.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

Jesper Swedberg’s son was something of a da Vinci. After graduating from the University of Uppsala, he visited Germany, Holland, France, and England where he pursued his interests in physics, mechanics, mathematics, and philosophy. He also wrote poetry. As his family had status but limited wealth, Swedenborg forged a career as a scientist and inventor with Sweden’s Department of Mines.

In his mid-50s, the pastor’s son began experiencing strange dreams “of a grossly sexual nature.” (britannica.com) Swedenborg was pressed to confront the ego-driven elements of his burning desire to be recognized as a great man of science. From 1743-1744, two forces – the love of self and the love of God – battled for supremacy. Throughout this existential crisis, the scientist repeatedly heard voices and experienced visions. A waking vision of the Lord told him to quit his job.

He retired from the world of science to take up a new mission as a man of God – a very special man of God, by his own accounts. Ten years into his religious vocation, he declared that the “Second Coming of Christ” had indeed taken place. Christ had arrived, not in person, but through His chosen agent, Emanuel Swedenborg. He declared that he had been given the power to freely visit heaven and hell and to converse with both angels and demons.

In spite of the strange nature of many of his claims, Swedenborg had followers. These included William Butler Yeats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James Sr., and the family of the AA founder’s wife, Lois Burnham Wilson.

Henry James Sr.

The curse of mankind, that which keeps our manhood so little and so depressed is its sense of selfhood, and the absurd abominable opinionatedness it engenders.

The Three Jameses: A Family of Minds, Hatley C. Grafton, p. 84

The father of William James inherited enough money to live as a man of leisure. He studied for the ministry but rejected much of what he was being taught. While in his early thirties, he fell into a two-year period of spiritual crisis. Biographers have suggested that James exhibited the classic symptoms of bipolar disorder. Carl Jung suffered similar “psychotic episodes,” later referring to his experience as “a confrontation with the unconscious.”

James felt a presence that was less benevolent than Bill Wilson’s Towns Hospital visitor – “a perfectly insane and abject terror, without ostensible cause and only to be accounted for, by some damned shape squatting invisible to me within the precincts of the room and raging out from his fetid personality influences fatal to life.”  (Henry James, F.W. Dupee, p. 50)

Through rigorous self-examination and the study of Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings, Henry James Sr. eventually escaped the most severe aspects of his depression and stopped self-medicating with heavy drinking. He influenced his son and William is credited with influencing Alcoholics Anonymous.

Swedenborgianism made its way to AA via other pathways.

Nathan Burnham (1813-1889)

Dad’s father, Nathan Clark Burnham, practiced law and medicine, and was a minister of the Swedenborgian Church in Lancaster (Pennsylvania)…

Lois Remembers, Lois Wilson, p. 2

N.C. Burnham was more than a mere minister. He was a theologian and authored Discrete Degrees, a New Church text. Lois and her family members were rigorous adherents to the faith. There can be little doubt that Bill Wilson learned at least the basics of the quirky religion of his wife and in-laws.

His friendship with Rogers Burnham and later, his courtship of Lois, brought the emotionally needy young man into the company of the fascinating family of a medical doctor. Surely Bill relished the sophisticated dinner conversations so unlikely at the home of his elderly wards, the Griffiths. “Lois’s father, Dr. Clark Burnham was to have a tremendous if somewhat indirect influence on Bill’s life.” (Bill W., Robert Thomsen, p. 16)

New Thought*

The most obvious connecting link between Alcoholics Anonymous and the New Thought movement comes through William James who “had found answers to his depression and doubts about his self-worth from… New Thought teachings, which he termed ‘mind-cure’ … While New Thought organizations never became very large, their ideas have wide acceptance in general society and influenced early AA… The principal benefit was much like the program of the Oxford Group and the claims of William James in his seminal book. It transformed religious beliefs into a plan of action that individuals could follow for their own benefit in solving problems in the here and now.” 

New Wine, Mel B., p.105

* For a more detailed look at New Thought see Beyond Belief – New Thought and AA

New Thought began with Phineas Quimby (1806-1866), a Portland Maine clockmaker “who practiced mesmerism and developed his concepts of mental and spiritual healing and health based on the view that illness is a matter of the mind.” (britannica.com)

New Thought spawned Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) had been a patient of Quimby’s.”Did Christian Science teachings have anything to do with the forming of AA and the evolution of the Twelve Steps? Bill Wilson, months before he met up with the Oxford Group, had read and reread Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in the hope of overcoming his drinking….” (New Wine, Mel B., p. 104)

Faced with both the fear created by the fire and brimstone of the Second Great Awakening and the sterility of scientific empiricism “New Thought counters with an unflinchingly positive view of life and its outcome. By… resigning the care of your destiny to higher powers… the believer gives the little compulsive self a rest.” (Language of the Heart, Trysh Travis, p. 77)

The magical mystery cure is coming to take you away.

“James characterized New Thought’s highest aim as an undoing of the modern norms of vigilance and aggression, the cultivation of ‘passivity, not activity; relaxation, not intentness.’” (Travis, p. 78) The Emmanuel Movement joined Christian Science and New Thought as “‘harmonial religions’… in which spiritual composure, physical health, and even economic well-being are understood to flow from a personal rapport with the cosmos.” (The Road To Fellowship, Richard Dubiel, p. 2) The cosmos, or God, or Him perhaps.

AA’s Tenth Step promises are dripping with passivity:

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone – even alcohol …. We will seldom be interested in liquor…. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given to us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality – safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed.“

By the Giant Remover, you know, “Him”

Early AA members were all over New Thought literature such as James Allen’s As A Man Thinketh, and The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox. New York AA’s frequently showed up in groups to listen to Fox carry the message. New Thought also produced positive thinkers like Norman Vincent Peale, Marianne Williamson, and Rhonda Byrne.

* * *

Positive affirmations can be seen in AA’s Bigga Booka: “Rarely have we seen a person fail…”; “We have recovered”; “… the problem has been removed”; etc. Of course, at the core of all of this personal transformation is the Grace of God. “God could and would if He were sought.”

Sadly, amidst all of the curing of Swedenborgianism, New Thought, Christian Science, and Alcoholics Anonymous, the number of healed amputees remains at zero. This limit of the magical mystery cure is particularly disappointing as the capital “C” Curer could repair a legless man with a snap of His Divine fingers.

After all: … there is one who has all Power – that One is God. May you find Him now. 

Choose your own conception of Him, if you wish, but don’t stray too far from AA’s religious roots.

---

Bob k, the author of 2015’s Key Players in AA History, is working to get two new books into print in 2021. The Road To AA: Pilgrims to Prohibition looks at America’s various efforts to deal with the problems that come with alcohol consumption. In The Secret Diaries of Bill W., a work of biographical fiction, the AA founder gives us an account of his life in his own words.

---

To date, bob k has written a total of 52 articles on AA Agnostica (those by Bobby Beach have a check mark – ). Here are his earlier articles:

• The Virtual 2020 Secular AA Conference (December 20, 2020)
• “We’re Spiritual Not Religious.” “Oh, Please!!” (October 4, 2020)
• Sleight of Hand; Slight on “Real” Inclusivity (September 20, 2020)
• THUMPERTOWN THEATRE PRESENTS… Bill and Bob go to the Library (May 24, 2020)
• What If We Built It And Nobody Came? (May 13, 2020)
• The Underground Railroad (April 26, 2020)
• The One and Only Kool-Aid (February 23, 2020)
• Tales of Spiritual Experience (January 19, 2020)
• The Rainbow Group (January 8, 2020)
• WRITING the BIG BOOK: The Creation of AA (November 17, 2019)
• Unintended Consequences (March 31, 2019)
• We Are Diversity (March 20, 2019)
• Freaken Big Book Fundamentalists Hate Freaken Everything (February 24, 2019)
• The Sad Tale of the Founder of Moderation Management (January 6, 2019)
• Bill W, LSD and AA Spirituality (November 18, 2018)
• Lord’s Prayer Threatened – Fundies go Wild (June 28, 2017)
• A Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous (June 4, 2017)
• The Kawartha Freethinkers (May 21, 2017)
• The Search for Self-Esteem (March 30, 2017)
• The Watering Down of AA (March 16, 2017)
  
• Remembering Ernie Kurtz (January 19, 2016)
• Carl Gustav Jung (June 28, 2015)
• Anne Smith (April 26, 2015)
• Jim Burwell (March 22, 2015)
• Dr. Bob – Part Two (Akron-Style AA) (January 25, 2015)
• William Duncan Silkworth (October 22, 2014)
• Lois Wilson (October 5, 2014)
• Bill Wilson and Other Women (October 1, 2014)
• Sylvia K. – First Lady of Chicago AA (September 14, 2014)
• William James and AA (August 24, 2014)
• Slaying the Dragon (July 2, 2014)
• Alcoholism – What’s It All About? (May 25, 2014)
• Twelve Steps to Psychological Good Health and Serenity (April 23, 2014)
• Dr. Bob, AA Co-Founder – Part One (March 30, 2014)
• Young Bill Wilson – Part Two (December 1, 2013)
• Young Bill Wilson – Part One (November 24, 2013)
• Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group (November 3, 2013)
• Charles B. Towns (October 6, 2013)
• Clarence Snyder: Almost Co-Founder (September 15, 2013)
• Anonymity in the 21st Century (April 21, 2013)
• Marty Mann and the Early Women of AA (April 14, 2013)
• Edwin Throckmorton Thacher (Ebby) (February 3, 2013)
• Christmas, Christians, Lepers, and Alcoholics (Revisited) (December 23, 2012)
• Twentieth Century Influences on AA (November 18, 2012)
• Short of a Game Changer – Appendix II (October 21, 2012)
• God As We Understood Him (June 17, 2012)
• Heathens, Spies, Websites, Water-boarding & Carrot Cake (April 1, 2012)
• AA in the 1930s: God As We Understood Him (February 8, 2012)
• Does AA Need Religion: Agnostics on CBC Radio (January 29, 2012)
• Our Father Who Art Not in Public Schools (January 15, 2012)
• Christmas, Christians, Lepers and Alcoholics (December 29, 2011)

And here are the 32 articles by bob posted on the AA Beyond Belief website (again with a check mark – – for those by Bobby Beach):

• Pandemics, Zoom and Happy Heathens (October 25, 2020)
• Sam Shoemaker (September 6, 2020)
• Richmond Walker (July 12, 2020)
• Fundamentalism’s Foibles and Follies (May 31, 2020)
• Billy Sunday (March 8, 2020)
• A Heathen Looks at the Twelve Steps (January 19, 2020)
• Powerlessness and Other Stuff (December 8, 2019)
• AA Incorporated (November 10, 2019)
• Our Perfectly Imperfect AA Founder (October 27, 2019)
• Lordy! Lordy! Lordy!!! (August 11, 2019)
• New Thought and AA (July 7, 2019)
• Dr. Benjamin Rush (June 16, 2019)
• Rowland Hazard (May 26, 2019)
• Florence Rankin (March 17, 2019)
• Ebby Thacher – An Unhappy Life (February 3, 2019)
• Selling AA – Early Publicity (May 6, 2018)
• Not Just the Washingtonians Part II (April 30, 2017)
• Toronto Agnostic AA Groups Win Fight for Inclusion (February 12, 2017)
• Floggings, Strychnine, Leeches, and Worse (November 13, 2016)
• Not Just the Washingtonians (April 17, 2016)
• Henrietta Sieberling (March 2, 2016)
• THE COMMON SENSE OF DRINKING | Richard R. Peabody (1931) (February 2, 2016)
• Willard Richardson and the Rockefeller People (February 3, 2016)
• Remembering Ernie Kurtz (January 19, 2016)
• Positive Affirmations and the Placebo Effect (January 17, 2016)
• The Washingtonian Society (January 6, 2016)
• The Fraud that is AA Fundamentalism (January 3, 2016)
• AA’s Sister Ignatia (December 2, 2015)
• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS UNIVERSAL EDITION, By Archer Voxx (November 18, 2015)
• The LSD Experiments (October 21, 2015)
• Jerry McCauley – The Water Street Mission (October 14, 2015)
• Henry Parkhurst (October 7, 2015)

---

The post The Magical Mystery Cure (is coming to take you away) first appeared on AA Agnostica.