Has anyone out there ever been to an A.A. meeting in which "god" was referred to as "She" instead of "He?"

Question

For example: "Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Her."

if so, how did it go over with the group?

Answer 1

Blessings My Friend! lol....been there, done that....but finally just limited it to "over to the care of God as we understand God"...

From the bible thumpers, i got "The Look".....but at the end when everyone prays, many do say Goddess, instead of God.
I did actually have to jump in there at last Sundays meeting, due to a newbie actually bringing in a recovery bible to chair a meeting....started reading about faith...i was ok on that until he started on the sermon of Abraham.....i suggested we stick to AA approved literature as the by laws state. All i got was an "ok" and a blank stare.....

Actually most groups are ok with whatever personal concept of God that you have...unless you happen to end up in a nazi group....

Anyway....it's not going to offend anyone.....and if it does, that is their problem, not yours.

Blessed Be
)o( Trinity

Answer 2

No.
I went to AA for three years during the 80s - it was a blokes' club and fairly misogynist.

I went along with the whole 'god' thingy cos I wanted to get sober and have some management in my life.
Whether it was a him, or a her, that I didn't believe in, hardly seemed to matter - she coulda had ten teats and two heads - I used the fellowship and the essence of the serenity prayer (accept it or change it) to keep me straight and sober - 'God' had nothing to do with it - I am responsible for how I conduct my life not some mythical sky swooper.
I lasted another seven years before I drank again.
These days I have a couple or three to be sociable - I don't miss it if I have none.

I digressed a bit, huh? Sorry. :)
.

Answer 3

My sister-witch and I used to hassle the group all the time about this. We'd say "Goddess as we understood Her." They finally agreed to use "Higher Power" as their usual term. And "It" instead of a gender pronoun.

The atheists backed us up. But I'm wondering how atheists can use a 12-step program at all. Now that I've turned atheist myself, admitting that I was using the gods and goddesses as metaphors and not taking them literally, I don't think I could handle a 12-step meeting anymore.

Answer 4

No, as I'm not an alcoholic, but I have heard people refer to god as a female before.

Once, back in my Catholic high school, one of my pagan friends called god "she" in theology class... most people looked at her strangely but didn't say anything.

Now that I am in college, people are more accepting, and god doesn't come up much because it's a public school. Still, my statistics professor sometimes mentions god when talking about the values of unknown variables, like the standard deviation of an entire population. He refers to god as female.

Answer 5

I have been to NA meetings at one of which I
had referred to a Goddess.The group was more concerned with the content of my brief
sharing of experience than the gender of the Almighty.Believe me, God's gender does not matter so long as one has faith in the Superior
Force.And I for one have always believed that
"Faith can move mountains".You of all people should know that sexism has no place in theology or religion.Instead of engaging in fruitless discussions on God's sex,I say we
move on to the crux of God's Will.I can confidently say that though I have never seen
the Almighty,I most certainly have experienced God.I do not wish to elaborate here as this is my personal matter with God.

Answer 6

The steps are more guidelines and up to interpretation at certian levels, like the god thing he/she/it its just the main step of recognixing a higher power, not a specific power, just recognize that a higher power screwed you over...oops that last part slipped, the AA admin group is going to have my job now I guess.

Answer 7

I have, but rarely. I can remember someone saying "If you want to make God laugh tell Her your plans." Cant remember if it was a man or woman that said it, but I do know that it didn't cause any reaction that I could notice.

Answer 8

You view your spiritual being a AA as YOU see them.
He, She , It, Them, whatever.
You can't think for them.
Ya know what I mean?

I DID go to Al-Anon which is for friends and family of Alcholics.
it was one of the BEST THINGS I did for myself.

First of all, MY spiritual being is GOD.
Secondly, He helped me to go through the steps and come out so much stronger than when I went in!

Answer 9

Hi, Lady. Yes, I have and it didn't go well. I love the Goddess. I look forward to your next question. Bye for now.

Answer 10

I've been to AlAnon & never heard it said that way, but if its your turn to read step 3, go for it & read it that way...
It's always supposed to be "YOUR" way of interpretation... Im Buddhist & it never bothered me to show up. I know the basic theme is JudeoChristian based, but my husband who NEVER goes to church got thru it-- the way he believes....
so do it. (and yes, I would say Goddess, not God, BTW).