Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Please Don’t Banish Jesus From Alcoholics Anonymous
THE STREAM ^ | 06/26/2023 | Mark Judge

Posted on 06/26/2023 9:17:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

A couple years ago I noticed a trend in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. The meeting was no longer ending with the Lord’s Prayer.

For more than 30 years every meeting I attended ended the same way — with the “Our Father,” then the Serenity Prayer, then the chant of “Keep Coming Back, It Works if You Work It!”

Suddenly, meetings were going straight to the Serenity Prayer and then the final pep chant. The “Our Father” was gone. This seems to be part of a larger trend. As reported in the Daily Mail, one group was censured for saying the prayer:

An Alcoholics Anonymous group is under threat after being censured for reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the start of meetings.

The group in Somerset was told by leaders it had become too Christian-focused and has been removed from the organization’s online directory.

But John Palmer, treasurer of the group in Yeovil, pointed out that the AA was started in the 1930s by Christians and that it adopted and popularized the Serenity Prayer, which is recited at the end of meetings across the world. ‘It’s a ridiculous decision,’ said Mr. Palmer. ‘They’ve removed us from the “Find a meeting” section of the AA website which will prevent new members from finding us. In other words, we’re being shut down.’

A Thirst for Union With God

It has taken me a while to admit this, mostly because I am so reluctant to criticize a fellowship that saved my life when I stopped drinking over three decades ago. But the elimination of the “Our Father” does in fact bother me. Not only because I believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, but because Christianity played a crucial role in the formation of AA.

(Excerpt) Read more at stream.org ...


TOPICS: Moral Issues; Prayer; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: alcoholics; alcoholism; god; jesus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last
To: Wallace T.
if at some point, Alcoholics Anonymous mandates that the chapters abandon the Lord's Prayer

It doesn't working that. The decision the say the Lord's Prayer is made according to the group conscience as expressed at each separate meeting because "2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern." There is no top down management. Each group is its own experiment. A group fails when participants stop coming, which shows the lack of unity that is required for the group to succede.

41 posted on 06/27/2023 5:35:06 AM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Oystir

There are several billion people in the world that disagree that your definition of “God” is Jesus Christ.

Debating this crap is useless. But it clearly makes you feel good, so whatever.


42 posted on 06/27/2023 6:29:46 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Alcoholics drink to fend off withdrawal. When one is at the drinking to get drunk stage, it’s more psychological than physical.

Absolutely true that Noah was no alcoholic.


43 posted on 06/27/2023 8:22:19 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

Anyone that turns water to wine might have a problem.


44 posted on 06/27/2023 9:04:24 AM PDT by CodeToad (No Arm up! They have!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Vermont Lt

“AA is supposed to be about a higher power. That is not specifically Christ. AA is practiced all over the world—and Christ wouldn’t work in many places.

This has been the case since Bill W started it.”

Absolutely true.

People in AA can use whatever Higher Power they want, and it still works. And even then, all it takes is “a willingness to believe.”

I’m a prime example.

Christianity did not help me get sober. And I’m not a Christian, although I used to be. But one morning, after 35+ years of hopeless drinking, I looked up and said,

“Ok, God, I give up. What do you want me to do?”

13 years sober since that moment.

People confuse their brand of religion with god. God is bigger than anyone’s religion. And you absolutely don’t need religion to find god. All you have to do is have a willingness to believe in a Power greater than yourself, and ask that Power, whatever it is,

“What do you want me to do?”

And wait for the answers. They will come. They always do. And they’re never what you want or expect.

As codified in Step 11:

“... praying ONLY for knowledge of his will for us, and the power to carry it out.”

(I capitalized “only” because so many AA folks ignore it.)


45 posted on 06/27/2023 9:42:34 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (The President has been bribed for 30 years. WHO ELSE in government has been bribed?!?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Years ago I quit going to Al-Anon for the same reason. One of the last meetings I attended skipped it and I stepped out of the circle and did not pray the serenity prayer with them. And I told them why. The “leader” gave me the usual inclusion crap.


46 posted on 06/27/2023 10:46:43 AM PDT by Mercat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Basket_of_Deplorables

Congratulations on your sobriety. That is a significant accomplishment.


47 posted on 06/27/2023 10:53:09 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
With 35 years of sobriety, and continuously active in AA, I' e been to meetings that have ended a variety of ways. Many use the Lord's Prayer. The Serenity Prayer is also quite common. I've also noticed meetings closing with the 3rd Step Prayer, the Promises, and reading the final paragraphs of page 164.

It's also been my experience that organized religion, (in America, almost always Christianity) has been sort of frowned upon in the meeting. Of course, the Big Book advises "be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer". In practice, though, I think religion is relatively unpopular around the tables. This might be regional, though, as I have found meetings in the south to be comfortable with religious comments.

All in all, I think the fierce independence found in the 12 Traditions, ensures that people who practice a religion alongside their 12 Steps will always have an abundance of fellow travelers.

48 posted on 06/27/2023 11:21:04 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Yea, they go by the “Y” because it fits in perfectly with LGBTXY-WHATEVER. When I was young in the 60’s you went to YMCA and swimming was in the nude. Eventually in the mid-60s the pedifiles and homo’s started purusing the premises in seach of the city’s youth.


49 posted on 06/27/2023 11:27:39 AM PDT by Jumper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

If alcoholics didn’t drink to become drunk their drunkenness would not be the issue that makes them a problem.


50 posted on 06/27/2023 11:49:01 AM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Vermont Lt

Thanks. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, by far.

And yet it was almost easy as soon as I actually, truly, gave up.


51 posted on 06/27/2023 12:34:27 PM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (The President has been bribed for 30 years. WHO ELSE in government has been bribed?!?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Their drinking is the issue rather than actual drunkenness; the need to drink destroys them financially and socially.


52 posted on 06/27/2023 1:50:02 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

I’m pretty sure that what bothers us and kills us is what they do when they are drunk.

Finding out someone has been keeping normal by secretly drinking without people knowing is not what causes the problem, it is the drunk driving, beating the wife, neglecting the kids, starting the fire, not being able to function at work, passing out, etc.


53 posted on 06/27/2023 2:51:11 PM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Not only because I believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, but because Christianity played a crucial role in the formation of AA.

We don't need no stinkin' Foundation.

54 posted on 06/27/2023 5:59:31 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (“There is no good government at all & none possible.”--Mark Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
One drunk I knew... drank like a fish and never seemed to even catch a buzz.

The old WASP "hollow leg" trick.

55 posted on 06/27/2023 6:03:05 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (“There is no good government at all & none possible.”--Mark Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Wrong. If an AA member insisted that Christianity was the focus of the meeting. it would be a one person meeting. By keeping it generic, you avoid proselytizing. It’s OK to mention that you’re a Catholic, Christian etc. but in the meetings I go to, if you were to say that being a Catholic was the only way, you’d be corrected. God or a Higher Power can be whatever the individual thinks or wants him to be. The point is something bigger then you is helping you. For atheists, you’re told it could mean Good Orderly Direction bt overtime, most people will morph into something more structured.

A friend in the program is a doctor and his belief is in Native American spirituality & he goes to sweat lodges regularly. I think its mumbo jumbo but its whats keeping him sober. He probably thinks my belief in Christ and God the Father are mumbo jumbo too.


56 posted on 06/27/2023 7:43:19 PM PDT by Mean Daddy (Every time Hillary lies, a demon gets its wings. - Windflier)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Jesus can stay if he turns the wine back into water.

It would also help if he could turn the loaves and fishes into coffee and donuts.


57 posted on 06/27/2023 7:45:41 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No!

ARTICLE The group in Somerset was told by leaders it had become too Christian-focused

````````````````````````````````````

I’ve been in AA for 42 years. There are NO leaders of AA, each and every AA group is autonomous.


58 posted on 06/27/2023 11:55:18 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Celebrating 42 years of sobriety this year, thank you Heavenly Father.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Graybeard58

That’s true but there are trends and wanna be’s always.

Proving divine inspiration, IMO

11-7-82 for me


59 posted on 06/28/2023 7:15:38 AM PDT by No!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson