ATHEIST ALCOHOLICS: What is the higher power you could claim in Alcoholics Anonymous?

Question

Alcoholics Anonymous makes frequent reference to the "Higher Power" as "God (as I understand God)." There is a lot of leeway, but still, the word "God" is bantied about a lot.

If you need the A. A. recovery program, but are an atheist, what can be substituted as a "higher power" that you understand?

Here's A. A.'s TWELVE STEPS:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. 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.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

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. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. 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.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Answer 1

There is only leeway in the beginning, after you've been in the program for a short time you're expected to have the same God as everyone else; the steps read "WE came to believe..." not "I came to believe..." as so many have pointed out to me.

I'm an atheist. I spent twenty years in and out of the rooms trying to find a way to work the program without success. I spent a lot of time fighting off AA members who made it their goal to convert me; they made me so uncomfortable I had to leave time and time again.

I finally took responsibility for my addiction and my recovery, and stopped over 5 years ago. Since then I've found out all sorts of statistics and studies that have been done; AA has much better press than it deserves.

Harvard professor, researcher, and AA Board of Trustees member, George Vaillant set out to prove that AA worked. He later said, "Not only had we failed to alter the natural history of alcoholism, but our death rate of three percent a year was appalling." A success rate that was no different than attempting to quit without AA, but with a mortality rate that was 5 times higher. That doesn't stop him from promoting the program though.

Answer 2

yes actually! Your higher power can be anything! I know some alcoholics who pray to light posts, and thin air. It is just to get into the habit of praying till you have a connection and a better understanding. I have a friend in AA who defined their higher power as an old hippie named Larry. Larry had long hair and a long beard, little Jon Lennon sunglasses, a Hawaiian shirt and he drove a big red Cadillac convertible. That was as good a higher power as any! In fact when I am feeling really lost sometimes I pray to Larry, why not? An all powerful all knowing higher power must have a sense of humor right?

Answer 3

"My name is Ed, and I'm an alcoholic
(atheist)

I am addressing this to alcoholics who have had trouble with the religious overtones in the A.A. program. To those who do not accept the idea of a supernatural being, let me assert that it is always people who have strengthened me when I needed help.

I admit that I need more strength than I alone possess to overcome the compulsion to drink. I receive this strength from the power for good generated in A.A. I have interpreted the frequent mention of "God" in the Twelve Steps and elsewhere as power that comes from other people.

After a year and a half of real sobriety (I had been trying to grasp the A.A. program for three years previously), I suffered a personal catastrophe. I do not ascribe my dilemma to punishment for past "sins," nor have I the vanity to think that a deity would choose me for martyrdom. Certainly, it is ironic that I should have become crippled after a period of genuine sobriety and not during a bout of drunkenness. But it is nothing more than that — simply ironic.

I have a deep belief in human morality. I believe that evil impulses can be subordinated by decent actions. A.A. brings out impulses for good, and this has tremendous force. In my opinion, this sum total of good actions is the "higher power."

In the words of a Unitarian minister: "In a world that has lost, or is losing fast, any convincing concept of divine providence at work, of a personal God ordering the affairs of humanity, it is not necessary to assume that the only alternative to a human-cherishing universe is a hostile or satanic universe. There is the much more likely alternative of a neutral universe where people live, hammering out salvation without hope of heaven or dread of hell. People can find that life has value, not because a divine being so ordains, but because the achievements of good men and women, laboring together with love and self-respect, are self-validating and self-rewarding."

For a period of over two years, I was practically a Loner, being able to attend only a couple of meetings a year. Fortunately, my wife has a good understanding of alcoholism (because of past association with a family group), and I was able to have almost daily discussions with her. Now, however, we have formed an A.A. group in this area that meets in my home weekly.

I was not able to accept A.A. or the very real help it could give until I made a rationalistic interpretation of the program. I am still an atheist, but I am a grateful atheist.

I don't want to change A.A. It works for me. I just want it to be effective in attracting rationalists. Their membership will help A.A. tremendously."

Answer 4

if drunk, and the "higher power" pulls you over, you tend to succumb rapidly and are a believer of sobriety

by the way...I am under the influence right now....LOL

but not driving...jeez

a person asked me recently to join Al Anon and said all I had to do is know an abuser of alcohol...

I gave dumb looks and said I knew none...they gave me dumb looks and wondered at my bartender's collection of drink stash

Answer 5

good reason and logic . higher thought perhaps and goals ; God will never cut it with an atheist.

Answer 6

I have known many people that have chosen inanimate objects, (Wilson) later with personal growth, it usually changes to a spiritual understanding, but not necessarily a "God".

Answer 7

wow thats pretty ghey.

AA = christian.
poop.

well..
BY THE POWER OF SCIENCE! I WILL NOT DRINK! RAWRRRRRR