A New Challenge

Christians in A.A. and Recovery: A New A.A. Challenge

By Dick B.

Live and Let Live

On page 135 of Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, this particular publication of A.A. General Services Conference-approved literature states: “We have three little mottoes which are apropos. Here they are: First Things First. Live and Let Live, Easy Does It.” The motto has been in place for decades in A.A. literature, A.A. posters, and A.A. meeting language. The user can decide if it implies that there is a needed tolerance of fellowship diversity and varying beliefs and studies.

Trust in God and Clean House

On page 98, this basic text states: “Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.” On page 100, two pages later, the basic text states: “When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.”

All Inclusive; Never Exclusive or Forbidding

On page 46, the basic text states: “To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.”

A New Exclusive, Forbidding, Autocratic Trend

Early A.A. was a Christian Fellowship, required belief in the Creator, and brought people to Him through acceptance of Jesus Christ. Today’s society is clearly not a Christian Fellowship; nor is it an anti-Christian Fellowship. Today the A.A. basic text suggests no such society. Cofounder Dr. Bob stated clearly that the basic ideas for the Twelve Steps came from study of the Bible. He stated clearly that old-timers considered the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 absolutely essential to their program. He stated that they felt that the answer to their problems was in the Bible. And nobody in A.A. that I have heard of has excluded, forbidden, or denounced Dr. Bob’s statements. Certainly I haven’t.

But some individuals in the society, purporting to act in the name of A.A., have assumed a new stance. It is one that attempts to exclude, forbid, and prevent the very principles that Dr. Bob espoused and applied so effectively. Not to include them, but to exclude them. This does not mean that A.A. is against Christianity. It does not mean that it can forbid or has forbidden Christian beliefs, practices, and principles applied by the still suffering alcoholics who desperately need help. But it does feed the fires of those who seek to revise, control, and reject the activities and beliefs of tens of thousands of Christians in A.A. and Christians in recovery.

One of Hundreds of Specific Encroachments

All over the United States as well as Canada and Great Britain, dedicated AAs telephone, email, and post me problems and concerns over a few “trusted servants” at the leadership level who attempt to suppress their groups, meetings, beliefs, and activities within their own society. Many of the concerned will be assembling soon in Southern California to describe the problem, explain how they deal with it, suggest what can be done, and offer their help in restoring to dignity and acceptance the long-standing freedom of A.A. and AAs to trust in God, study the Bible, mention Jesus Christ, and recover from the deadly malady of alcoholism by the very religious means which made the original program so well-known and astonishingly successful.

I am a retired practicing attorney of 36 years. During those years gone and previously in law school, I found that, at their best, law and lawyers focused on evidence, not opinion, in establishing truth. Alcoholics Anonymous offered the same opportunity. Opinions of individuals don’t count for much in the fellowship. If remarks get too far out, the individual is looked at as a “bleeding deacon.” Speculative remarks and approaches do exist, but offer little to the still-suffering newcomer. Love and service do. So do love and tolerance. But some “in authority” stray far far afield

The following is just one of hundreds of pieces of evidence of the growing rigidity problem addressed here.

Recently, a Christian newcomer applied to his local A.A. office to have his A.A.-Bible study group listed in the meeting schedules. His application was approved. Then, somehow, he got tangled in the world-service structure. On March 8, 2009, writing on the official letterhead of “General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous,” some gentleman named W.S. designated himself as “SW and NE Regional Correspondent, Treatment Facilities Coordinator, Loners Correspondence Service Coordinator.” In a courteous, 3 page letter, rejecting the Christian’s application, this gentleman wrote, among other things:

“the General Service Conference, which represents the group conscience of A.A. in the U.S. and Canada, has recommended that G.S.O. not list groups that have or appear to have an outside affiliation. . . .

“Since many will associate the term “Bible” with Christianity or the Judeo-Christian religion, the ‘Centerreach Bible Group’ will appear to endorse or have an affiliation with one or the other or both. In addition, if the group will use the Bible as part of its message of recovery, it will be expressing its views as they relate to that text. For the sake of A.A. unity, A.A. Tradition asks that groups refrain from giving even the appearance of an affiliation with any particular brand of religion. . . .

“By using non-A.A. literature such as a Bible or religiously accented materials or by espousing a religious perspective, a meeting, in reality, is implying that there is another requirement for A.A. membership. A newcomer may have no God or higher power of his/her understanding or may be an agnostic or atheist – they are, of course, welcome in A.A. . . .

“a group might consider carefully institutionalizing the use of such materials in a meeting setting.”

Fortunately, this gentleman represents nobody. Yet. But the power he purported to exert in his letter ends as follows: "And, we are sorry that given the circumstances, we are not able to do so at this time." (He was referring to the group’s request to be listed at "your General Service Office."). The Christian AA who sent me this letter had, with other AAs, spent months just organizing and moving their A.A. group in New York

Not an End, Just the Beginning?

Alcoholics Anonymous has a tradition – not a rule – that “public controversy” is to be avoided. But the reader may judge for himself how an atheist or gay or airline pilot or impaired physicians A.A. group (all listed) might take this purported authority as a license to suppress and censure other groups and approaches in recovery. Or how a church or a clergyman or a Christian in recovery might take this purported edict as a governing prohibition and precedent against trusting God, accepting Christ, and using the very Bible in which Bill and Bob and A.A. Number Three wrote inscriptions to the first A.A. group in Akron. In fact, when I visited the King School Group in Akron, this very Bible was brought to the podium at the beginning of the meeting and returned to its place at the end. The fact and Dr. Bob’s inscription are quoted in A.A. General Services Conference-approved literature. I suppose I’m wondering when some bleeding underling at New York headquarters might take it upon himself or herself to intimidate that very first A.A. group to retire from the Bible for good. If so, there may be no “public controversy,” but there may be a good many defections from a society that carries the banners, “Live and Let Live,” “All Inclusive, Never Exclusive or Prohibitive,” and helps all who earnestly seek the help of Almighty God and to learn about Him through the book Dr. Bob called the “Good Book.” A book which contains the basic ideas of the Twelve Steps, according to Dr. Bob.

I’m one of those Christians in A.A. who can easily tolerate today’s A.A. diversity and inclusiveness, but finds no solace in the epistles of employed or appointed servants who ignore A.A.’s suggestion in Tradition Two: “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.” For now, we can still assume that there is no index of forbidden books in Alcoholics Anonymous; nor a police department; nor a board of individuals or servants who have constituted themselves the “group conscience” of two million suffering souls who just want to get well and are trying their best to do so with a group of loving, tolerant, serving drunks.

Gloria Deo

http://www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml; http://www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml;  http://dickb.com