The Lord's Prayer …. revisited!

“A Letter From Bill W. Regarding The Lord's Prayer In A.A.
From the A.A. Archives in New York April 14, 1959

Dear Russ, Am right sorry for my delay in answering. Lois and I were a long time out of the country and this was followed by an attack of the marathon type of flu that has been around here in New York. We are okay now, however, but I did want to explain my delay.

Now about the business of adding the Lord's Prayer to each A.A. meeting.

This practice probably came from the Oxford Groups who were influential in the early days of A.A. You have probably noted in AA. Comes of Age what the connection of these people in A.A. really was. I think saying the Lord's Prayer was a custom of theirs following the close of each meeting. Therefore it quite easily got shifted into a general custom among us.

Of course there will always be those who seem to be offended by the introduction of any prayer whatever into an ordinary A.A. gathering. Also, it is sometimes complained that the Lord's Prayer is a Christian document. Nevertheless this Prayer is of such widespread use and recognition that the arguments of its Christian origin seems to be a little farfetched. It is also true that most A.A.s believe in some kind of God and that communication and strength is obtainable through His grace. Since this is the general consensus it seems only right that at least the Serenity Prayer and the Lord's Prayer be used in connection with our meetings. It does not seem necessary to defer to the feelings of our agnostic and atheist newcomers to the extent of completely hiding our light under a bushel.

However, around here, the leader of the meeting usually asks those to join him in the Lord's Prayer who feel that they would care to do so. The worst that happens to the objectors is that they have to listen to it This is doubtless a salutary exercise in tolerance at their stage of progress.

So that's the sum of the Lord's Prayer business as I recall it. Your letter made me wonder in just what connection you raise the question.

Meanwhile, please know just how much Lois and I treasure the friendship of you both. May Providence let our paths presently cross one of these days.

Devotedly yours,

Bill Wilson”

Comment: Bill Wilson wrote some very insightful and useful observations in his time but this wasn't one of them! The practice of reciting the Lord's Prayer may very well derive from the Oxford Groups from which as Bill observes AA detached itself early on in its development (too many 'absolute' this and 'absolute' that for AA tastes). And again it would be quite natural for Christian AA members to want to continue with the practice or at least right up to the point where AA pronounced that it was “not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organisation or institution” etc (or as specified in Traditions 3 and 10):

3.—Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation”.

“Tradition 10.—No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues—particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.”

(our emphases)

Bill Wilson's argument as to the acceptability of the aforementioned prayer seems to rest on a type of logic with which we are entirely unfamiliar. Apparently, or so he argues, its widespread use somehow negates its origins. Indeed he even claims that the notion that it is a Christian prayer is therefore a “little farfetched”. We refer you to the following in this connection:

“The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father and the Pater Noster,[1] is a venerated Christian prayer that, according to the New Testament, was taught by Jesus to his disciples. Two forms of it are recorded in the New Testament: a longer form in the Gospel of Matthew[6:5–13] as part of the Sermon on the Mount, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke[11:1–4] as a response by Jesus to a request by "one of his disciples" to teach them "to pray as John taught his disciples". The prayer concludes with "deliver us from evil" in Matthew, and with "lead us not into temptation" in Luke. The first three of the seven petitions in Matthew address God; the other four are related to our needs and concerns. The liturgical form is the Matthean. Some Christians, particularly Protestants, conclude the prayer with a doxology, a later addendum appearing in some manuscripts of Matthew.”

(Source: Wikipedia entry – Lord's Prayer)

We would argue that Bill's assertion that the prayer is not of Christian origin is not only itself more than a “little farfetched” - it is utterly farcical! But he then goes on to compound his error by assuming belief in a divine being of some kind must somehow necessarily (and legitimately) find its expression solely in a Christian prayer ignoring altogether the fact that other (non-Christian) religions place belief in a Supreme Being at their centre but do not see fit to employ that self-same prayer. This is a form of liturgical 'centricity' which almost beggars belief in its arrogance. Moreover the argument that avoidance of the prayer has something to do with “defer[ring] to the feelings of our agnostic and atheist newcomers” is no more than a distraction (as well as somewhat insulting) as he seeks to place the blame on the latter for the prayer's omission. Bill concludes with the injunction that somehow the 'objectors' (ie. those who believe we should abide by our traditions rather than merely pay lip-service to them) will benefit greatly from being obliged to listen to a Christian prayer in a supposedly non-sectarian meeting, that this represents “a salutary exercise in tolerance at their [ie. AA members] stage of progress.” Presumably this principle would operate equally well in reverse ie. that the absence of the recital of a Christian prayer would serve as a “salutary exercise in tolerance* to those adherents of a religion which is after all only a minority sectarian belief system itself. Tolerance would seem to cut both ways!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous … and of all religions and NO religions everywhere!)