We were recently contacted by a member from NSW Australia with reference to this meeting:
“Hello firstly I would like to take you for all the great work you are doing.
I live on the central coast N.S.W Australia there is a group called the Terrigal speakers meeting on at 5.30 pm Sunday. This meeting fits what you are saying about cult groups 100%. They have people controlling about 15 meetings here , they stack votes, tell the cso here what to do or they will pull all funding, they go around to meeting and go to the new comer and get them to go to their meetings, tell the new comer that the people at the other meeting are all sick so stay away, tell them that they have talk about how good there sponsors are when the share and tell everyone they have to get a sponsor, what jobs they can have even control some people money, tried to turn a gay lady here straight by trying to play with her breast, the list goes on and on and on, would like any info on how to stop them if that can be done at all, also how to get there meeting put up on your site to maybe stop someone from falling into their trap
Thank you keep up the good work
Regards ….....”
Our response:
”Hi …...
Thanks for the mail. If you send us as much detail about the specific meeting eg. times, full location address etc (in order that people don't confuse it with other meetings in the area) we will flag it up on the site. Again as much background information as you can provide would also be useful. The best way to deal with a cult group is firstly to stop pretending that it doesn't exist. Getting people to talk about their conduct openly ie. exposing them, is usually a good way to get the ball rolling. Once you've pulled away the rock you can see what's lurking underneath! Alerting newcomers is of prime importance. They are after all the most vulnerable members, and a prime target for the cult. If you have cult members visiting AA meetings on what we call 'fishing expeditions' they can be warned off. Once they realise that they've been rumbled they usually go away - or at least until they think the dust has settled! Raising the matter at the local assembly (intergroup) is another way of bringing members' attention to what is going on. What the cult hate above all is being subjected to any kind of examination. There's quite of bit of stuff on the site about what they're up to. We particularly recommend the Minority report (2013) and the article on the Primary Purpose gang. We hope this has been helpful and look forward to hearing from you
Cheers
The Fellas”
(minor edits)
Comment: Any further information is always welcome. Our usual thanks to our correspondent
Cheerio
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
