Section
9
Are
we communicating the A.A. Message in the right way?
Most
A.A. members are probably aware the numerical growth in AA has
stagnated in recent years. While there may be many contributing
factors, we question only one aspect here, whether A.A’s roots in
both medicine and religion are being communicated truthfully and
holistically in present day A.A. public and newcomer relations. Or
has there been too far a shift toward promoting A.A. as a
spiritual/religious program, away from that which is essentially a
pragmatic program of coping with alcoholism as an illness?
It
would appear from the earliest days to the present, the presentation
of A.A. as a spiritual program is misunderstood and a great barrier
to overcome for many if not most newcomers. For many people in
society, the words “spiritual” and “religious” are
interchangeable, for others they mean the same thing. A question to
ask is: Do people now think A.A. is religious? Do the use of the word
God and the serenity prayer in public relations/ newcomer literature
give a religious impression and put numbers of alcoholics off from
making initial contact? Would the removal of the word God and the
serenity prayer from public relations/newcomer literature and
replacing them with terms such as “some power beyond themselves”
be more effective in attracting and retaining sceptical newcomers?
“Just
before leaving for Akron, Dr. Silkworth had given me a great piece of
advice. Without it A.A. might never have been born. ‘Look, Bill,’
he had said ‘you’re having nothing but failure because you are
preaching at these alcoholics… …talking to them about the Oxford
Group precepts… … then you top it off by harping on about this
mysterious spiritual experience of yours… … …why don’t you
turn your strategy the other way round? … …
Aren’t
you the fellow who once showed me that book by the psychologist
William James? … … … Have you forgotten Dr. Carl Jung in
Zurich… …Bill you have got the cart before the horse… …
You’ve got to deflate these people first… … So give them the
medical business, and give it to them hard. Pour it right into them
about the obsession that condemns them to drink and the physical
sensitivity or allergy of the body that condemns them to go mad or
die if they keep on drinking… … Maybe that will crack their egos
deep down…. … Only then can you try your other medicine, the
ethical principles… ..” (Bill W. AA Comes of Age page 68)
“The
word God still aroused some antipathy. When the thought was expressed
that there might be a God personal to me this feeling intensified. I
didn’t like the idea. I could go for such conceptions as Creative
Intelligence, Universal Mind or Spirit of Nature but I resisted the
idea of a Czar of the Heavens… … My friend suggested what then
seemed a novel idea “Why don’t you choose your own concept of
God?” – Bill W. (Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book” page 12)
“Fitz
fell at once into a hot argument with Henry about the religious
content of the coming volume. A newcomer Jimmy B., who like Henry was
an ex salesman and a former atheist also got into the hassles. Fitz
wanted a powerfully religious document; Henry and Jimmy would have
none of it. They wanted a psychological book which would lure the
reader in; when he finally arrived among us, there would then be
enough time to tip him off about the
spiritual character of our society.” (A.A. comes of Age page 17)
“Dr.
Howard a psychiatrist… … made an important contribution… …
Bill said the psychiatrist’s ‘idea was to remove all forms of
coercion, to put our fellowship on a ‘we ought’ basis instead of
‘you must’ basis… … … ‘Dr. Howard read [the manuscript]
and brought it back the next day’… ‘You have to take out the
must. You have to take out the God – the complete God.’ ” (Pass
It On page 204)
“..
Dr. Harry Tiebut, [sic] the first psychiatrist ever to hold up the
hands of our fellowship for all to see… … … The year was 1939,
and the book Alcoholics Anonymous was about to hit the press…
…we had made prepublication copies in multigraph [sic] … … One
of them fell into Harry’s hands… …he at once resolved to show
the new volume to a couple of patients, since known to us as Marty
and Grenny … …At first the book made little impression
… … its heavy larding with the word God so angered Marty that she
threw it out of the window, flounced off the grounds… … and
proceeded… on a big bender… … Back in her quarters, Marty
finally brought herself to leaf through its pages once more. A single
phrase caught her eye and it read ‘We cannot live with resentment’…
… Forthwith she attended a meeting… … Returning … … she
found Grenny intensely curious…
… Her
first words to him were ‘Grenny we are not alone any more!’ ”
(Bill W. A.A. Grapevine July 1966. Language of the Heart page 369)
“The
unbeliever” (first edition “Big Book,” Alcoholics Anonymous)
“I
asked the doctor to tell me the truth.” (Experience Strength and
Hope page 5)
“Make
it just a power that will help.” (Experience Strength and Hope page
5)
“Educated
Agnostic” (first edition “Big Book,” Alcoholics Anonymous)
“He
told me of other men who had found sobriety through the recognition
of some power beyond themselves. If I cared to I was to consider
myself invited to a gathering the following Tuesday where I could
meet other alcoholics who had stopped.” (Experience Strength and
Hope page 104)
“Of
highest importance would be our relations with medicine and religion.
Under no circumstances must we get into competition with either. If
we appeared to be a new religious sect, we’d be done for. And if we
moved into the medical field, as such, the result would be the same.”
(Bill W. AA Grapevine June 1955, Language of the Heart
page
150)
“These
ex-alcoholic men and women number about one hundred at present. One
Group is scattered along the Atlantic seaboard with New York as a
center. [sic] Another and somewhat larger body is located in the
Middle West… … … The fellowship is entirely indifferent
concerning the individual manner of spiritual approach so long as the
patient is willing to turn his life and his problems over to the care
and direction of his creator. The patient may picture the Deity in
any way he likes. No effort is whatever is made to convert him to
some particular faith or creed. Many creeds are represented among the
group and the greatest harmony prevails. It is emphasized that the
fellowship is non-sectarian and that the patient is entirely free to
follow his own inclination. Not a trace of aggressive evangelism is
exhibited…… Considering the presence of the religious factor, one
might expect to find an unhealthy emotionalism and prejudice. This is
not the case however; on the contrary there is an instant readiness
to discard old methods for new ones which produce better results.”
(A.A. Comes of Age, appendix E:a, pages 304-305)
Bill
W. AA Grapevine April 1961
“We
much regret that these facts of A.A. life are not understood by the
legion of alcoholics in the world around us. Any number of them are
bedevilled by the dire conviction that if they ever go near AA they
will be pressured to conform to some particular brand of faith or
theology. They just don’t realise that faith is never a necessity
for AA membership; that sobriety can be achieved with an easily
acceptable minimum of it; and our concepts of a higher
power and God as we understand him afford everyone a nearly unlimited
choice of spiritual belief and action” … … … How to transmit
this good news is one of our most challenging problems in
communication, for which there may be no fast or sweeping answer.
Perhaps our public information services could begin to emphasize this
all-important aspect of AA more heavily. And within our own ranks we
might well develop a more sympathetic awareness of the acute plight
of these really isolated and desperate sufferers … … ... …
Though three hundred thousand did recover in the last twenty-five
years, maybe half a million more have walked into our midst, and then
out again… … Yet we can’t well content ourselves with the view
that all these recovery failures were entirely the fault of the
newcomers themselves … … We didn’t communicate when we might
have done so. So we AAs failed them. Perhaps more often than we
think, we still make no contact with those suffering the dilemma of
no faith.” (Language of the Heart page 251 -252)
It
is clear the Oxford Group influence in the formative years of A.A.
was as much negative as positive. When compared to the combined
influence of others in organised religion and the medical profession,
who kept AA on course as a non religious organisation, the time span
of Oxford Group influence was very small; two years in New York and
five years in Akron. The Oxford Group connection was also a public
relations liability. In view of the influence in A.A. today of
fundamentalist Christian non A.A. published literature which
advocates early A.A. meetings as Oxford Group meetings, we question
whether the Oxford Group connection ought now be confined to
the A.A. history books, and not be mentioned at all in any public
information and newcomer literature.
“The
Oxford Groupers had clearly shown us what to do. And, just as
importantly, we had learned from them what not to do as far as
alcoholics were concerned. We had found that certain of their ideas
and attitudes could not be sold to alcoholics. For example, drinkers
would not take pressure in any form, excepting from John Barleycorn
himself. They always had to be led, not pushed. They would not stand
for the rather aggressive evangelism of the Oxford Groups. And they
would not accept the principle of ‘team guidance’ for their own
personal lives.” (A.A. Comes of Age page 74)
“He
said he was an alcoholic too… … a chemistry professor who was
barely managing to hold on to his teaching post. He had come to the
Oxford Group at his wife’s urging, but he could not stand their
‘non- sensical’ [sic] talk about God, nor did he like all these
‘aggressive people’ who were trying to save his soul. And while
he could not accept Bill’s ‘weird’ religious experience, he
certainly did agree with what Bill said about alcoholism… …he
stayed drunk on and off for 11 years before finally getting sober in
the A.A. program.” (Pass It On page 132)
“By
the time the article was written, A.A. had become separate from the
Oxford Group in both New York and Ohio, and Frank Buchman’s remarks
about Hitler had given rise to accusations that the O.G .was pro-
Nazi. With war in Europe against the Nazis and feelings on all fronts
running high, Bill understandably wanted to avoid being associated
with anything controversial, particularly when the fellowship so
needed favourable publicity.” (Pass It On page 246)
“But
all of us East and West were placing increased emphasis on Dr.
Silkworth’s expression describing the alcoholic’s dilemma: the
obsession plus the allergy” (AA Comes of Age page161)
“This
incident led Sam Shoemaker to apologize to Bill later, after he
himself had broken with the Oxford Group in 1941. Shoemaker wrote:
‘If you ever write the story of A.A.’s early connection with
Calvary, I think it ought to be said in all honesty that we were
coached in the feeling that you were off on your own spur… … …
You got your inspiration from those early days, but you didn’t get
much encouragement from us and for my own part in that stupid
desire to control the Spirit, as he manifested Himself in individual
people like you, I am heartily sorry and ashamed.” (Footnote, Pass
It On page 178)
“Bob
and Sister Ignatia began to work more and more closely through the
fall of 1939 in getting drunks into St. Thomas for treatment. One
thing worried her, however: Alcoholics Anonymous seemed closely
connected with the Oxford Group. ‘At the time, I feared we might
become involved with a religious sect of some kind,’ Sister Ignatia
recalled. She then asked Father Vincent Haas, a newly ordained
priest, to investigate the meetings for her… … …
Fortunately,
the group had moved to Kings School by this time, and Father Haas was
favourably impressed.” (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers” page
189)
“On
the second day of the New Year, 1940, Dr. Bob wrote Bill: ‘Have
finally shaken off the shackles of the Oxford Group.’ ” (Dr. Bob
and The Good Old Timers page 218)
“Speaking
for Dr. Bob and myself I would like to say that there has never been
the slightest intent, on his part or mine, of trying to found a new
religious denomination. Dr. Bob held certain religious convictions,
and so do I. This, of course, the personal privilege of every A.A.
member. Nothing however, could be so unfortunate for A.A.’s future
as an attempt to incorporate any of our personal theological views
into A.A. teaching, practice or
tradition.”
- Bill W. (AA Comes of Age page 232)
“Beyond
a Higher Power, as each of us may vision him, A.A. must never, as a
society, enter the field of dogma or theology. We can never become a
religion in that sense. Lest we kill our usefulness by being bogged
down in theological contention.” - Bill W. (Letter 1954, As Bill
sees It page 116)
“This
was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. They had
widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through,
regardless of their belief or lack of belief.” - Bill W.
(A.A. Comes of Age page 167)
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
