Drunks

[monster]

I sincerely doubt it. I'm not really familiar with the 12-step program, but when you are down and you know there is no god, it is not in the least bit helpful to have that rammed down your throat. It's like people see that as a bigger problem than your recent bereavement/alcoholism/whatever. But true atheists are probably a very small minority of society and I can see who those who are not cannot possibly understand that it is not something you can tolerate for the sake of getting "help".

I'm quite surprised there aren't AA groups who have taken the belief part out of it, though?

[regular.joe]

Originally Posted by monster

I'm quite surprised there aren't AA groups who have taken the belief part out of it, though?

Wouldn't be AA. Would be like taking the flour out of the cake.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by monster

I'm quite surprised there aren't AA groups who have taken the belief part out of it, though?

Never! Any group that does that is no longer AA nor even a 12-Step group. "Step 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Step 3: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him."

You don't pull on superman's cape, and you never ever change ANYTHING about the Steps.

That "God as we understood him" phrase is AA's attempt to offer members an escape clause - ie You are not required to believe in the Christian god or the Jewish one or whatever. You can make up your own higher power if you want. You could even use the Flying Spaghetti Monster just as long as you considered it more powerful than you. I knew one person who used his dog as his higher power, but everyone in the group thought he was a weirdo - the AA member, not the dog.

Their is something called Rational Recovery (RR) that rejects the idea that god or a higher power is required for recovery. RR was started by a guy named Jack Trimpe who had a major resentment against AA. The Rational Recovery program is printed in the "Small Book," as against AA's "Big Book." And so forth.

Whatever.