Is Alcoholics Anonymous Religious?

Question

From the AA big book - "Lack of power, that was our dilemma. we had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES. Obviously. "

So, if an atheist alcoholic wants help, what does he do? Are there other organizations working in this area, helping atheist alcoholics?

I dont drink folks, and i am not an atheist either, nor am i religious...just wanted to learn something new.

Answer 1

Yes. They've danced around the "power greater than ourselves" statement to avoid being called religious, but it really is.

There are secular organizations that atheists can join, such as SOS, if they need help with alcoholism.

Answer 2

Many skeptics like myself have solved this dilemma by recognizing that 1) Alcohol itself is a power greater than the alcoholic, 2) What the people do in AA works, 3) The AA group as a whole has a power greater than myself that can help.

Thus the god issue can be resolved as

Group
Of
Drunks

or

Good
Orderly
Directions.

Still no need to believe is some supernatural baloney.

Zen Buddhism at its most basic levels can serve as a daily spiritual exercise, no requirement to believe in a deity. Meditation practice works for me and allows me to keep my skeptical perspective intact without compromise.

I have found that most of the rational recovery or secular recovery groups tend to have an agenda of proving AA wrong and focus too much on that.

Answer 3

I am an AA member, sober 8 1/2 years, so I hope I have some credibility here.

AA's concept of a "power greater than ourselves" does not mean that one is required to believe in God or a deity. Instead, it is a recognition that each of us, alone, is powerless over alcohol. Since this is so, if we are to get sober, we need more power than we possess as separate individuals. That "more power" is the "higher power" we speak about.

Many AA members absolutely do believe in God and belong to an organized religion. . . but many are not religious at all, and, yes, some are atheists.

And the atheists do just fine. What they do is to acknowledge that the AA support group itself has more power than they do individually, and that's their higher power.

Me, I've come to have a belief in God through my membership in AA. I am still not religious, I do not go to church, but the simple fact is that I was a hopeless drunk. I did not want to drink, I knew it was ruining me, but I simply could not stop. I know this seems inconceivable to those who have never experienced it, but my mind would be screaming "NO! I don't want to get drunk again!" as my body was tossing back a shot. It was a nightmare. If you don't understand it, thank your lucky stars.

But after I joined AA, I was able to get sober. And I know it wasn't me that did it. It was the group, it was the program, it was, if you will, my "higher power". Today I have my life back together, I'm able to practice my profession again (lawyer), I have tons of friends, and a great family.

Now, there are certainly other programs. I looked at them myself, because when I got sober, I thought I was an atheist. But what I found was that these other programs had little to offer besides telling me that AA didn't work and would brainwash me. This did not help me get sober. And I needed help.

I have nothing against these other organizations. Rational recovery, secular sobriety, etc., moderation management, etc. I am sure they work for some, and I am for doing what works. But AA certainly can work for atheists.

Answer 4

I'm an atheist; I was told that AA works for everyone and was very disheartened to learn that their recovery method included belief in God. Sure, it talks about a "Higher Power", but that's just to get the agnostics or those that have fallen away from church in the doors.

The second step doesn't say "I came to believe...", it reads "WE came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore US to sanity", and then the third step names this Power "God". It quickly becomes apparent that ones "God as WE understood Him" does not allow for an individual understanding.

They also claim to be "spiritual, not religious", but once they start talking about "God", they are talking religion. That's not just my take on it; AA has been found to be at least "religious in nature" by the Second and Seventh District Courts, The New York State Court of Appeals, and The Supreme Court of Tennessee. The Supreme Court of the United States has refused to hear appeals of these decisions.

In my opinion, once AA starts putting definitions on this God (cannot cure alcoholism, only grant a daily reprieve; demands for daily prayer; miracles on demand; etc.), it moves from being "religious in nature" into a religion unto itself.

In both the Big Book and "The 12 & 12", the bait-and-switch is described, get a person into the habit of prayer, and when good things start happening, the people will attribute the positive gains from stopping to prayer and God. The authors are very condescending to atheists, saying that they only claim not to believe or that they are arrogant and angry. Br. Bob put it, "If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other sort of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you."

The are other groups, SOS, SMART, LifeRing, WFS, and others that do not demand religious dogma in recovery. I feel that faith can be a valuable tool in a person's recovery, but is no requirement.

What I find to be one of the most harmful teachings of AA is the idea that people can't get sober on their own. Harvard research showed that 80% of those who achieved sobriety of one or more years, did so on their own. Following AA's logic, did no one get sober prior to the late 1930s?

Several studies, including one run by AA Board of Trustees member, George Vaillant, showed that there was no difference in the percentage of people who quit on their own, and those that attended AA. It also showed that people in AA had a mortality rate that was 6 times higher than those who attempted quitting on their own.

For some eye-opening statistics, go to:
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html

Answer 5

It is religious in nature, for sure. But AA members don't ram religion down your throat. Just sit there and discreetly roll your eyes when someone shares about the obsession being lifted by a higher power. Take what you like and leave the rest, as they say.

Answer 6

Yes there are. I'm not sure but I think you can contact centerforinquiry.com to find out about non-religious alcohol problems.

Do a google search for council for secular humanism and they will give you some advice.

(Personally, I don't see anything wrong in believing in something outside yourself if you are in need of that type of help. Just because you don't believe in God doesn't mean you aren't allowed to "visualize" yourself to success if it is necessary. Many atheists don't think like this but as an atheist, I believe you can do whatever it takes to help yourself in difficult times. I don't believe in any kind of dogma...religious dogma or non religious dogma.)

Answer 7

Please listen to what I have to say as if it were from a close friend.

I am a Christian. That's not what I want you to believe for yourself, but to understand about me.

I have a faith that is based on something or more specifically, Someone.

I need to reach out at times, thru prayer or reading His book or by being in contact with like believers. It is mandatory that I have someone I can count on who understands ME.

AA offers that. People who understand where you are coming from and man understand your lack of a supreme power as being a hindrance to your sobriety.

Beware when they say your higher power can be a tree or a dog or what ever. That is not a high power. Higher means smarter than we are. A learned person.

Let someone who has been there, from your group, be your higher power. someone who has tasted defeat and known victory. Trust in SOMEONE.


Are you an atheist? I don't need to know, but most certainly God does, and He still loves you, my friend.

Go to your meetings and find that 'someone special' who can help you today for the battle tomorrow.

Keep the fight up, because one day you will be the victor!

Answer 8

You might also bear in mind that the "power greater than ourselves" is open to interpretation. The member may decide that the collected wisdom of the group could constitute a greater power, for example.

The Twelve Steps of AA also mention turning over one's life and will to "God (as we understand him). Several notions of "God" are non-theistic. For example, G.O.D. is referred to "Good Orderly Direction," or more facetiously, "Group Of Drunks."

There is a strong spiritual component to AA, but it is not in any dogmatic sense "religious."

There are in fact, meetings specifically for atheists. I am aware of several of them in New York, for example. I imagine if one were to contact one's local AA Central Office, one could find such meetings nearby.

Answer 9

12 step program:
#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,

#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.

#11 Sought through prayer and meditation to improve out 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 a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Alcoholics Anonymous is an organization which is decidedly hostile towards atheists, agnostics, skeptics and freethinkers of all sorts. In the AA handbook, Alcoholics Anonymous (commonly referred to by members as the "Big Book"), it is stated that the purpose for teaching people that they are "powerless" in their lives is to encourage them to have a religious experience and convert to a belief in God. The individual is encouraged to define God as he or she wishes, provided only that concept implies some entity capable of enabling people to remain sober when they otherwise could not. According to AA, a lack of proper spirituality is actually the cause of addiction; the treatment is a conversion to a new way of life, one based upon the precepts of AA.


Some relevant quotes from the AA literature:

If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you.

To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.

...after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life - or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you. But cheer up, something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics.

Let's look first at the case of the one who says he won't believe -- the belligerent one. He is in a state of mind which can be described only as savage.

We atheists ... believed... that our human intelligence is the last word ... Rather vain of us, wasn't it?

Answer 10

I find it funny that some people say that an atheist alcoholic should just suck it up and go to AA, which forces you to say there is a higher power.

But I wonder what a Christian or Muslim alcoholic would do if they had to go to a group that forced them to say "Admit that you aren't going to get any help from god, and instead look to your fellow man for support."

I'm guessing they may not be singing the same tune anymore.