Atheists Fight to Remove ‘God’ From AA Program

Breitbart ^ | October 25, 2016 | Thomas D. Williams

[C19fan]

A Canadian man is suing Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to have “God” removed from its famous Twelve Step program, alleging discrimination against atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers. First published in 1939, the “Twelve Steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous have a significant spiritual component, and six of the twelve make direct reference to God or a “higher power.” Those following the program must acknowledge their powerlessness over alcohol and their dependence upon God to restore them to health.

[jmacusa]

Better not try this shit at my meeting.

[EEGator]

They’re in the YouTube comments sections...

[PGR88]

He handed her his "book" that she was supposed to sign off on his attendance and she signed off the remaining 49 weeks there and then, and asked him not to come back.

If he had no interest in their program (and why should he?), he should never have been there - above all, its a stupid decision by the judge.

This "meeting leader" sounds like a very wise person. She's there to guide and help people who have a serious problem, and who have admitted they have a problem, not babysit for some @$$hole judge, or the state, who think they can play psychotherapist.

[SirLurkedalot]

Lol

[SirLurkedalot]

Amen to that, .45LC

[sphinx]

I don’t believe courts actually order people into AA. A person is found guilty and is offered the choice between voluntary participation in a treatment program or incarceration. Any qualified treatment program would do. AA is free. The others charge. AA probably becomes a default option for that reason, but I presume someone could ante up the bucks for a fee based program if he had some objection to AA.

[\/\/ayne]

Video: Preachin' Prayin' Singin' (in the public square!)

[discostu]

Depends on the jurisdiction, and if this battle has been fought before. Back in the day when the only treatment programs the average person knew about were AA and Betty Ford it was often specifically listed as AA. Slowly but surely that’s been unwinding and getting more open, but they do still tend to lean towards “12 step based” programs, as that has a lot of brain real estate.

[DannyTN]

Here's the orignal 12 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.

Here's the new scripts....

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Rejected belief that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Realized that we are screwed.

[kanawa]

You still have the list?

[the_daug]

HOW IT WORKS Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those too who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

This guy is honest?

[Secret Agent Man]

Private group that is voluntary to be a part of.

Start your own group.

[SES1066]

I know an atheist who once said that some of his ilk want any mention of god removed “from the public square.” This is the end goal. No public prayer, no worship services on TV, no bibles in hotel rooms or bible quotes on fast food cups, no mention of Merry Christmas.

To this I will paraphrase H L Mencken, pretty much an atheist himself, and revise his description of a Puritan to fit modern atheists as described above. This is to illustrate that atheism, of this scope, is as militant a religion as any other espoused by unreasoning fanatics.

An Atheist is someone who is desperately afraid that, somewhere, someone might have a spiritual moment and thank God!

[Dalberg-Acton]

You don’t want some lame ass “higher power”. You need one powerful enough to remove the obsession to drink.

[Secret Agent Man]

That is what a liberal wants. The entire world to change to suit them.

Insert any issue.

It is why liberals are people,who never take the final step from adolescent to independent, responsible for themselves, adult. They are perpetual teenagers who know it all and demand others bend to them because no one knows how hard they have it. Also because many of their issues revolve around their privates.

[Secret Agent Man]

I think most fit this category.

I think a few really do not believe in God and do not like the idead of society pushing what they consider a lie on others. They would be more believable if they also fight to stop other actual lies like global warming and speak out about stealth muslim jihad by immigration in their countries, and stuff like that. But I believe this percentage of atheists is very, very, very low.

[Secret Agent Man]

AA-G

[Boogieman]

I don’t think the AA program wants you to rely on the “higher power” getting you to stop drinking. That’s not the point of acknowledging one. The point is to teach you humility, to get you to stop thinking of yourself as the center of the world.

In fact, AA takes the stance that addicts will never completely lose the “obsession to drink”, it is just something they need to learn to live with and not succumb to.

[Secret Agent Man]

How does he get sentenced to aa for being well under the legal limit? I just don’t get that. He could hsve been coming home from a baseball game or a picnic and had a beer.

[Secret Agent Man]

Or since it would be half of AA, just call it A.