If you have a serious drinking problem, you turn to AA, right? But what if you’re an agnostic or an atheist? Can you still climb those famous Twelve Steps if you don’t believe in God?
Six of the steps have strong religious connotations, to say the least:
2) (We) came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Quite the litany. Turn our will and lives over; admit the nature of our wrongs; remove our shortcomings and defects of character; pray for God’s will for us.
Sounds like a sect to me. A pretty brainwashy sect, at that.
So would you rather ruin your liver or your brain? Some choice.
[image via Roger Fields]
I am no expert to comment on this being someone who does not drink alcohol and whose immediate family does not either. However, we all know we are realted to or friends with alcoholics. My brother was an alcoholic, and I did not realize it for some years; finally I had a reason for our inability to communicate effectively. It has genetic roots in the family. I personally would not be able to combat alcoholism with AA because of the religious aspect. It would do me no good as I am basically an atheist. I do not know what is available for those without a religious conviction and their alcohol or addictive behaviors. It is probably a bigger problem than most people recognize.
The statistics on AA are not impressive. People who quit on their own have the same long-term success rate as those who use AA, and they don’t have to go to meetings more often than a Jehovah’s Witness.
I’d be more impressed with AA if there were a thirteenth step: “Now that you’ve stopped drinking, put it behind you and get on with your life.” But no, even if it’s been years, decades, since their last drink, they’re still “recovering,” not “recovered.” They’re expected to continue attending meetings and be obsessed with not-drinking.
AA’s church backing and govt sanctioning is all the proof I need that this is the program alcoholics and drug addicts need. This blog pointing out their 3% success rate is just plain counter-productive to the all the possible good they do.
seriously, good job pointing a little light on these cockroaches…