AA's Ultraconservatives Invade the Middle East

We quote:

“As a newcomer in Alcoholics Anonymous back in the 90’s, I remember being on the lookout for anything that I thought was even remotely cult-ish. I thought if I spotted something, it might just be my ‘get out of AA free card.’ While I needed to get my court card signed and may have even wanted to learn how to control and enjoy my drinking, I sure as hell didn’t want to join a cult or find God. So at the beginning of the meeting when they read the Twelve Traditions and everyone chanted in unison ‘principles before personalities’ I thought, WTF have I gotten myself into?! The chanting and the holding of hands at the end when the serenity prayer was recited in unison seemed like something straight out of the Jonestown Massacre.

After six more years of hard drinking and sixteen years of sobriety after that (weekends and holidays included) I now realize that our Traditions are actually what prevent us from becoming a cult and that they have actually kept us from going the way of the long defunct Washingtonians and the Oxford Group. So when I heard about the cult-like activities happening here in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and about how our Traditions were being routinely and systematically violated, I was shocked. If I had even heard rumors about what is currently happening in the Fellowship back then, when I was a newcomer, I would have used it as a ‘get out of AA free card’ for sure.

Like other extremists, the ultra-orthodox among us pine for a time when the ideals that set our spiritual movement in motion were ‘pure.’ They want to ‘get back to basics’ by working the AA program in the way they believe it was before it became ‘corrupted’ and ‘diluted’ by Hazelden Treatment Centers, self-help books and new age philosophy. Like all zealots, the leaders of these groups in AA claim a lineage to the founding members which they say makes their way, the only true path to salvation.

And now, thanks to a host of workshops and local proselytes in the Persian Gulf who preach a lock-step interpretation of the AA doctrine, this form of spiritual extremism has been brought to the Middle East, a corner of the world all to familiar with those of their ilk. What’s sadly ironic is that while these hardliners from the Pacific & Atlantic Groups in our midst long to get ‘back to basics’ and consider themselves a ‘By The Book Group,’ they have actually pushed aside one of our main textbooks, The Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, in order to do so. They are violating, in both letter and spirit, most of our Traditions including One, Two, Five, Eight, Ten, Eleven and Twelve.

Tradition One states that our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on AA unity. While their intentions may be good, these fanatics are destroying the most cherished quality our society has - unity. They are doing this by differentiating themselves from what they call ‘mainstream AA’ or ‘AA Lite.’ While most of us identity ourselves as ‘alcoholics’ or ‘recovering alcoholics’ they are, on the other hand, self-professed ‘recovered alcoholics.’ They are ‘recovered’ because unlike the rest of us who are just recovering, they are actually working the program as it was supposed to be worked, like they did back in 1935 (or even pre-Big Book) when it was ‘pure.’ This creates an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dynamic that gives these sponsorship cult members a false sense of spiritual superiority, of ‘better than’ recovery that is splitting our Fellowship apart.

Tradition Two 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. Within these extremist groups in AA, sponsors govern the lives of their sponsees. If obligations are not met, calls not made at exact times or detailed, daily inventories not delivered into inboxes when they should be, there are punishments to be doled out, usually in the form of the sponsee not being able to proceed with the step he is on or not allowing him to move on to the next step, a sort of spiritual blackmail that governs their lives by their ultimate authority - their sponsor. Sponsors in other Fellowships such as NA are also strictly forbidden.

Tradition FIve states that each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. These ‘back to basics’ groups in AA violate this tradition by insisting that their sponsees buy workbooks that are not conference approved literature. The workbooks, may not be photocopied nor may they be passed on to another alcoholic. All sales proceeds go to their maker, not to AA as a whole. Carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers does not mean selling it to him for profit. Nor does it mean targeting newcomers, the most psychologically vulnerable of all which is what one ‘by the book’ group is doing in a major metropolitan area by falsely advertising their praetorian gatherings as beginner meetings (the only two such meetings listed for this particular area).

Tradition Eight states that Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional but our service centers may employ special workers. These splinter groups within AA seem to have forgotten the ancient words used in this tradition, ‘freely ye have received, freely give’ and that ‘at the point of professionalism, money and spirituality do not mix.’ Leaders of these fundamentalist groups often set up foundations with slightly modified AA symbols on them to hoodwink the unsuspecting and channel profits from the sale of their workbooks, personal programs (and even an AA board game in the case of Wayne B.) into their pockets. They fly around the world, all expenses paid on the AA speaker circuit - famous in their anonymity. In so professionalizing the 12th Step, they have defeated our singleness of purpose, opting instead to exploit the AA name for personal prestige, power and money.

Tradition Ten states that Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name out never be drawn into public controversy. These sponsorship cults seem to have forgotten the fate of the Washingtonians, a precursor to AA. While they once had a membership of over 100,000, their opinions on outside issues destroyed them. In much the same way, these sepratist groups in AA have an opinion on a variety of outside issues that range from the very dangerous practice of non-medical personnel restricting the use of antidepressants and other prescribed medications for members who suffer from mental illness to policing the use of profanity and even telling sponsees how they ought to dress.

Tradition Eleven states that our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. Leaders of these sponsorship cults are heavy self-promoters with their own websites, foundations and self-help books. The essence of this tradition is self-denial, not self aggrandisement as practiced by those on the AA speaker circuit selling their own version of recovery.

Tradition Twelve states that anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. These AA gurus lead cults of personality that routinely break anonymity by using their first and last names at meeting level. While only using their first names and last initials at the level of press, radio, films and on social media, they have nevertheless become household names in AA and in the case of Clancy I., Wayne B. and Wally P. deity like figures within the Fellowship. Like all cult leaders they demand absolute submission and compliance to their dogma. Any resistance is dismissed as self-will which will inevitably doom the one rebelling to surely drink again. These practices are the antithesis of Tradition Twelve. Just as we couldn’t afford to have any self-appointed messiahs representing AA when the Twelve Traditions were written in 1952, nor can we afford to have them with us today.

Therefore, for the sake of unity and for our own collective survival, groups that violate any of the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous in word or in spirit should not be associated or linked with those who do not. Any use of the AA name, logo or listing on an AA website should be banned by those breaking the Traditions that bind us together.”

Comment: All sounds VERY familiar

Our thanks to our correspondent

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous) 

Suggested reading:  https://aaminority.blogspot.com/

Questions and Answers on Sponsorship

Having given the AA preamble the 'once over' recently we thought we'd apply the same approach to the booklet “Questions and Answers on Sponsorship”. This piece of AA (conference approved) literature as you can see is available free online (as is most of our literature with the exception of various books (but see the “Big Book” (“Alcoholics Anonymous”) and the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions).

Sponsorship means many things to many people. Generally it has a benign impact but in the hands of the cult it has become a weapon of control, widely abused, and barely recognisable when compared with its exposition in AA literature (eg. “Alcoholics Anonymous” Chapter Seven - Working With Others, the above booklet etc). It's interesting to note that those groups (Roadies, Joys of Recovery, Back to Basics, Primary Purpose blah blah blah) who lay such stress (ad nauseam) on the benefits (even necessity) of sponsorship (or some kind of recovery 'expert') rarely if ever make reference to these texts (eg. Joe and Charlie in their so-called Big Book study virtually ignore the above chapter from the Big Book). The reasons why become clear when you contrast their approach with those recommended by AA generally. Fortunately anyone conversant with the relevant sections can easily avoid falling into the trap of being stuck with a cult control freak (and the nightmare that generally follows from such associations!), or, once “armed with the facts”, can extricate themselves without too much difficulty from the unwholesome clutches of these warped individuals. At this point we'd like to draw your attention to some important principles: Step Three; two of the three “pertinent ideas” b) and c) (BB, Chapter Five); Tradition 12 (as well as the section discussing Step Three in the Big Book):

Step 3: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

Note: This step does NOT say “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over the care of our sponsor.”

Again in Chapter Five, How It Works (online edition, p. 60): 

“(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism;

(c) That God could and would if He were sought.”

(our emphases)

ie. “no human power” (including a sponsor) is going to sort this problem out. On the contrary it will require the intervention of a Greater Power (howsoever this may be conceived) to produce the required results. 

Tradition 12: 

“Twelve—Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” (short form) 

“12.—And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.” (long form)

(our emphases)

Again the principles of the fellowship and recovery programme are of far greater significance than any personal (and therefore necessarily partial) interpretation offered by the local 'guru', 'super sober', circuit speaker, Big Book 'expert' etc. Each member of AA is responsible for their OWN recovery and for no one else's. We repeat – no sponsor is going to fix you. Your recovery is dependent on you and your own conception of a Power greater than yourself.

Finally if you take a couple of minutes to read Step Three in the Big Book (Chapter Five, pp. 60-62) you will find a perfect description of a control freak in action

Since the booklet itself is some 32 pages long (and we're more than enthusiastic advocates of “Easy Does It” and “First Things First”!) we'll be dissecting it in easy stages over the next few weeks (commencing tomorrow).

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)