Draft pamphlet (agnostic and atheist members) submitted to the Literature Committee for 2015 Great Britain conference

We quote (in full):

“The ‘God’ Word

AA is not a religious organisation [but see here]. Alcoholics Anonymous has only one requirement for membership and that is the desire to stop drinking. There is room in AA for people of all shades of belief and non-belief.

Let’s make no bones about it; the 12-Step programme that members follow has its origins in a Christian group. As a consequence you will see the word ‘God’ mentioned quite often. It even crops up in the Serenity Prayer said at many AA meetings. But we make it clear that this ‘God’ is the god of each individual’s own and personal understanding.

Many members believe in some form of god, and we have members that come from and practice all sorts of religions; but also many are atheist or agnostic, so don’t be put off. It’s important to remember that AA is not a religious organisation: we have a simple idea that there is a power greater than us as individuals, a higher power so — a god of your own understanding.

All we need to do is ask ourselves ‘Do I believe that there is a power greater than myself? This higher power can lie within some person’s religious beliefs, or it can be completely separate from any religion. (One member looks at the sea and accepts that it is a power greater than him.) If we can find that higher power we are on our way to being able to use spiritual principles in our recovery.

What we all have in common is that the programme helps us find an inner strength that we were previously unaware of — where we differ is in how we identify the source. Some people have the thought of the word God as standing for “good orderly direction”, or even “group of drunks”; but many of us believe that there is something bigger than ourselves which is helping us today — and that is all you need to make a start. Give it the benefit of the doubt.

We have seen many people come to AA and refuse to accept our help because they become angry or upset when others talk of their beliefs. If you are unable to accept that others have a belief that you don’t, you may find it very difficult. If on the other hand you can be tolerant of other peoples' right to believe in whatever they want to, you will find others tolerant of your rights to believe whatever you choose.

Whatever you do, please don’t let someone else’s religious beliefs prevent you from finding the solution that is available to you through Alcoholics Anonymous.

AA literature and resources you may find helpful:

Tradition 3, short and long forms

AA World Services Pamphlets:

‘A Newcomer Asks’ (in particular, questions on AA and religion and ‘God’)

‘Do You Think You’re Different?’ (in particular, Ed’s story and Jan’s story)

‘Many Paths to Spirituality’

Books:

Alcoholics Anonymous (the ‘Big Book’)[no edition indicated. We refer to the current online (4^th edn)]

In particular:

• Foreword to First Edition
• Foreword to Second Edition, p. xvi
• Chapter 2, ‘There is a Solution’, pp. 26-29
• Chapter 4, ‘We Agnostics’, pp.44-57
• Story, ‘The Vicious Cycle’ [5^th story]
• Appendix 11, ‘Spiritual Experience’

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,‘Step Two’

Living Sober

Came to Believe

As Bill Sees It, selections on ‘Higher Power’

Pass It On

AA Comes of Age, ‘Unity: The Second Legacy’, p. 81

Grapevine Articles:

You may also find some of the Grapevine articles on these topics helpful. Articles in Grapevine are written by AA members from around the world and represent their experience, strength and hope in print. These divergent opinions of AA members are not statements of AA policy and are not those of the Fellowship as a whole or AA. The Grapevine is not Conference approved, as the articles cannot go through the process of Conference approval. The articles listed here are provided only as potential sources of information and experience shared by AA members.

The Grapevine is available in print and digital formats by subscription. Both may be ordered through its website, which also has searchable digital archives of articles from past issues.

‘The Dilemma of No Faith’ by Bill W (AA Co-Founder), April 1961. Published as ‘God as We Understand Him: The Dilemma of No Faith’ in The Language of the Heart

‘From Atheist to Agnostic’, by R C, April 1961

‘An Atheist Speaks Out’, by E L, May 1962

‘Can an Atheist Find a Place in AA?’, by Anonymous, June 1964

‘Unbeliever in AA’, by L W, July 1966

‘Sober For Thirty Years’, by Jim B (author of Big Book story, ‘The Vicious Cycle’) May 1968 (reprinted November 1999)

‘The Power of Good’, by Anonymous, April 1978

‘Listening for the Reality’, by June L, April 1991

‘An Agnostic Alternative’, by Mike F, March 2003

‘The Only Faith You Need’, by Michael B, February 2004

‘Finding Our Way’, by Jerry S, September 2013”

(our interpolations in red – links supplied by us. Unfortunately the remainder of the Grapevine references are inaccessible unless you have a Grapevine subscription. In other words you have to pay to read what other AA members have shared for free!)

Comment: Clearly AA has something of a problem (or in the US at least). An independent judicial system (presumably with no axe to grind) has reviewed the evidence and declared quite unambiguously that AA doctrines and practices must be viewed as religious (see our quote above). Of course it might be argued that simply because our doctrines and practices are regarded as religious does not imply that AA itself constitutes a religious organisation. But we reckon that argument is as unconvincing as Bill Wilson's desperate attempt to claim that the Lord's Prayer is not a Christian prayer; something of a non-starter! Setting that aside even the attempt to reconcile these conflicts by recourse to the term 'spiritual' might itself be something of a red herring (especially for those members who regard AA and its programme as merely a conduit for effecting a “psychic' shift ie. an essentially psychological transformation but employing terminology (and references) derived from a religious (Christian) tradition). The simplest resolution to these problems, of course, is to set up an alternative to AA (although clearly distinguished from Alcoholics Anonymous eg. Dual Recovery Anonymous UK) but based on purely secular lines, and then start from scratch. This would avoid the need for endless semantic 'juggling' (which convinces no-one apparently) and would allow the best aspects of AA (from the secular point of view) to be carried over into the new organisation whilst leaving all the 'religious/spiritual' trappings behind – something like Secular Recovery Anonymous. Those of us who have religious/spiritual beliefs or alternatively don't give a monkey's either way can then carry on with our respective recoveries without wasting inordinate amounts of time speculating on essentially irresolvable questions (but see Kant's “Dereinzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes“ - Go on! We dare you!)

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous … and pragmatists everywhere!)

PS Or then again we could all start praying to the Great Red Herring in the sky!