Why does AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) push religion?

Question

If you go to Alcoholics Anonymous web site and read their plan/guidelines/what ever you call it, it actually says you can not recover from your addiction unless you believe in God. So that means no Athiests/Agnostics have ever recovered from alcoholism?

Answer 1

ed As tow others have pointed out 12 step programs are a religion just look up their links .
AA was founded almost 80 years ago by tow men who were members of a group called the Oxford Movement founded by Frank Buchman who called Hitler a Great godly man or something along that line .
he was primarily concerned about masturbation.
Bull Wilson Bill W took the oxford groups stuff and six suggestion and created 12 .
12 steppers strongly be live in their god which if beseech in the correct way at one point it meant on your knees .
12 step meetings resemble a religious service where prayer opens the "meeting /service / it is usually a altered version of the Serenity prayer and closes with the Lords pray / our father. both Christan prayers that a person who is non Chistain might take offense at . just As a Christan might take offense at being pressured into a non Christa in prayer. AA s pray to god for solutions to their problems . and to deal with often serious medical conditions such as Schizophrenia, or even seizures . often a person who feels depressed or suicidal will be told to pray to tier higher power meaning the God of the 12 step movements understanding .
despite claims you god can be anything a doorknob . it renders their spiritual not religious claim ridiculous A doorkonb or light buld m ect will not perform mircals tey will say you can call the gruop youHP
thinkof it tis way if you r trun the Grop onot go and trun your lie and will over to the gruop that is unnerving infact hat is whatv you come close to doing if you become a full fleged member of AA/NA ectb. Often spending all yoiur free time with membvers givng money to not AA Aa clubhouses. g atrying ot convert new members at pstchairic hospitals if they consent to talk with you. Called 12 sep work or going on a 12 step call thiur is open confession of your /wrongs / sins
makingamends this is comon in many religions AAs NAs do not consider heping the neddy as heping others only helping a addict/drunm ect/ counts . tere are Gurus who run gruops some with a iron fist .
AA hasa leadership that it's members know littlwe of called GSO and AAWS. ther is a d board of directors that aproves all literature so as to fit inwith the dogma of 12 step belief
a rading of it in both antio or pro 12 step books leads any thinking person to conclude as judges did the 12 step movement is a religion
Some will say it isa cult itomes close epcailly in institions
Read the Big bokks chapter called we agnostics http://www.aainsa.org/BigBook/44.htm
it isobvios with te we come to belive that 12 step gruops are a relgion with aparticualr god that does certain things a reading of the Big book quicky reavals this infa ct AA has n ot change the frist164 pages as ther belive iBill W was divinly inspired to write it and it is a unchangeable truthy. Billw is revered and can be sen by outside observers as a diety or semi god like bieng now .the Same can be Said of Dr Bob SMith a protologist. bith men wer failure and found away to make money Bilw W never worked after founding Aa lving of his wife lois and the rpaylaties of AA litierature sales.

Agnistics and atiests are either tolerated in hopes ofa conversion or ostrasized
But of couirse agnostics and athiets can stop or moderat thir substance use intake or quit most pople do so on thier own regardless of faith only in AA nA ect must you practice a religious dotrine ot stop or moderate substance use .

Answer 2

AA never pushes religion, but 12-step recovery is a spiritual-growth process. They say you must look to a "higher power" to help you in your recovery. God works best for most people, but in AA you are free to consider anyone or anything outside yourself to be your higher power. The important thing is to recognize that you're not the center of the universe.
Your last question, "So that means no Athiests/Agnostics have ever recovered from alcoholism?" is total BS, and you know it.

Answer 3

Just to dispel any 'it's not a religion' retorts I'll start by saying that several state courts have ruled that it IS religious (1) in nature and ordering people to attend violates their constitutional rights.The meetings begin and end with prayer(2) ,usually the "lords prayer" which is definitely christian. AA came from a religious organization called the 'Oxford group' which practiced Buchmanism.(3)

Why does AA push religion? ...........because it has its roots in religion. It quacks like a duck ......so it's a duck.

Do atheist and agnostics recover from alcoholism ?
Firstly, alcoholism is a condition not a disease. Second, yes atheist and agnostics recover from this condition the same as everyone else does, they quit drinking or drink moderately. They are just not likely to attribute their success to a religious process.

Answer 4

I'm an atheist that got sober 5 years ago today...eh, yesterday, it's after midnight...I just didn't do it with AA.

I was told repeatedly that unless I found my "Higher Power"started hitting my knees, I was doomed to die drunk in a gutter.

In the chapter called "Into Action" in the Big Book, it states, "To some people we need not, and probably should not emphasize the spiritual feature on our first approach. We might prejudice them. At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God..."

I know atheists and agnostics that have gotten sober through AA, I don't understand how they did it though. Some claim they use the support they get from the group, but I never got any support once I mentioned that I'm an atheist, and what's the sense of attending a support group where you get zero support?

Answer 5

they don't
12 steps is a religion
and they do not demand that you believe in God, they demand that you believe in aq higher power.
They also say that a person has to go to the meetings for the rest of their lifes, or they will 'relapse'. And that they are the 'only way to 'sobriety'. This is patently false, but since the 'program' is 'anonymous', their are no statistics to support the claim. The fact is no one I know(except my dad), got sober via AA. Most my young adult friends and myself were extreme in our abuse of drugs and alcohol. And none of us quit using the AA method.
Me personally? I was taught by JW's from the Bible that one had to avoid associating with people with bad habits to break free from said habits. It is a simple 1 step plan that is 100% effective.

Answer 6

Well, as an agnostic, I should be outraged... but not really.

The goal is to "believe in a higher power" because as far as the group is concerned, it's a very effective tool. I don't know why, but apparently it is. My guess is that it has something to do with authority: if you're only not drinking because of the authority of man, all you have to do is avoid the authority of man. But if you're disobeying the authority of god, there's nothing you can do to evade his wrath. People just have more incentives to follow "the rules" if they don't think they can get away with it. In addition, by proclaiming the existence of a god, you accept that there may well be repurcussions beyond those in your material life, which means that punishments can have a lot more impact. After all, who cares if I go to jail for a drunk driving vehicular manslaught charge if I just kill myself while I jail? But if I believe in god, I can't escape the punishment through death. Thus, it's an effective tool for recovery, regardless of the truth or lack thereof of God itself.

Answer 7

I really think it is unfair that many churches look for people in moments of despair to push their ideas into their weakened minds.

Many people would laugh at the junk some religions feed them, but may accept them in a time of despair as an alcoholic crisis.

They're just attacking the market that's more likely to buy their junk.

Ignacio

Answer 8

I am one of those people who does not choose God as my Higher Power. I believe more in Fate & Karma. If you do good things, you get good things. I have 2 1/2 years sober and I don't use God like others do. What got me to this point today is seeing and believing that the Program works. I do what is suggested by people who work their program. It works for them, and it works for me. I am not treated as an outcast because I don't believe in God.

Answer 9

AA emphasizes that there is a need for Spirituality in recovery. They do not push organized religion however one must rely on a god of his own understanding as a power greater than themselves in order to conquer a disease that is stronger than they are...hope this helps...mike

Answer 10

If you don't believe in a higher power, how are you going to recover??? The alternative of believing in man, is that the addiction is mans inability to actually control his own destiny. The higher power is something positive, to attain. Since the disease is the essential negative in one's self destructive path and lack of control.