THE LORD’S PRAYER – OH, LORDY!!

By bob k.

Before There Was AA

The founder of the Oxford Group – a Christian evangelical movement that gave birth to AA – Frank Nathaniel Daniel Buchman began his life in the small town (pop. 1,200) of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, on June 4th, 1878. That was about fourteen months before Bob Smith was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Buchman’s mother was a devout Lutheran who had grand ambitions for her son. The family moved to Allentown (pop. 18,000) so that their son could attend high school. No more than an average student, Buchman nevertheless moved on to Muhlenburg College and Mount Airy Seminary and was ordained a Lutheran minister in 1902.

He remained average but fellow students viewed him as ambitious.

A few years into his first posting, he resigned in bitterness over what he viewed as unjust treatment at the hand of bureaucrats. After an extended holiday in Europe, he was hired as Secretary of the Penn State College YMCA (YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION). At the university, Buchman managed to convert and reform two notorious drunkards, “Pop” Golden, the football coach and Bill “Pickle,” a local bootlegger. The redemption of seemingly hopeless alcoholics provided dramatic evidence to those with lesser failings of the limitless power of the Lord.

Eventually, Buchman departed from the Lutherans. Throughout his career, according to his biographer, “conflicts with institutional authorities prompted his departure. In 1921, this history of friction culminated in his decision to quit the church proper and create his own organization.” The new venture was financed by wealthy sponsors and later came to be called the Oxford Group.

In 1931, Buchman associate Samuel Moor Shoemaker (1893-1963) elicited a decision for Christ that stopped the drinking of Russell “Bud” Firestone, a chronic alcoholic and son of rubber magnate Harvey Firestone. Grateful that his son was still sober sixteen months later, the noted industrialist hosted a ten day gala in January, 1933 and Akron. Ohio became an Oxford Group stronghold. Anne Smith attended the January celebration and, shortly thereafter, began dragging her seriously alcoholic husband to local OG meetings. Re-exposure to the Christianity of his youth had no appreciable effect on the physician’s drinking.

The Start of Alcoholics Anonymous

On Mother’s Day of 1935, the doctor had a long conversation with Bill Wilson and the power of one alcoholic talking with another was demonstrated. Following a week-long relapse about a month later, Dr. Bob never again drank alcohol. Smith embraced Wilson’s plan of helping others as a way of helping themselves. Over the summer, Bill D. and Ernie G. joined in the coffee drinking. Many others tried and failed or declined the offer of a religious solution.

To be clear, these early Christian warriors neither were called Alcoholics Anonymous nor were they what later became Alcoholics Anonymous. Members of the “alcoholic squad” of the Oxford Group were carrying William James’s message that “the only cure for dipsomania is religiomania.” When Bill Wilson had asked Ebby, in late November or early December of 1934, how he was staying sober, the reply was “I’ve got religion.”

After exiting Towns Hospital in mid-December, the future AA founder immediately began attending the gatherings of the Christian group as well as trolling the Calvary Mission for conversion prospects. The Akron alcoholics met regularly with other Groupers at the home of T. Henry and Clarace Williams. The Lord’s Prayer was standard fare at these gatherings. Appropriately so. It was a band of Christians getting together for what was essentially a prayer meeting. The bible was read. People testified. Newly sober drunks were taken upstairs to make kneeling surrenders to Jesus Christ. There are no reports of surrenders to “God, as we understood Him,” to Nature, to the Universe, or to doorknobs. The solution was religious and the solution was Christian.

Rabid Evangelistic non-alcoholics such as Henrietta Seiberling played prominent roles in bringing religion to the alcoholic “sinners.” It was less of a case of the alcoholics being rehabilitated as being returned to the flock. The newly sober drunkards were urged to pray many times a day. For his part, Dr. Bob became inflexible. Jim Burwell would have been shown the door in short order in Akron. “Sorry. We cannot help you.”

The Bigga Booka

In his diligently researched 2019 offering, Writing The Big Book : The Creation of AA, the subtitle of William Schaberg’s book tells us the author’s opinion of when AA began. In crafting the Bigga Booka, the AA founder did exactly what AA fundamentalists tell us not to do. He took what he wanted and left the rest, at least in regard to Oxford Group practices.

The name “Jesus” does not appear in the 1939 publication and “Christ” appears only once. That is an historical reference to Wilson’s church exposure as a youngster. Oxford Group practices such as the 4 Absolutes—honesty, unselfishness, purity, and love—were jettisoned. Not big on absolute purity, Bill W.? I think I’m with you on that. Wilson wisely lobbied against the pushing of “absolutes” at alcoholics. The 5 C’s—conviction, confession, contribution, conversion, and continuance—can be found, in part, but formally are gone. This is not to say that on April 10, 1935, when the Bigga Booka rolled off the presses, that which had been left on the cutting room floor ceased playing a role in the sobriety of the pioneers.

Quite to the contrary.

The New Yorkers’ book did not stop the Akronites from continuing to do what they had been doing in the pre-book era. Bibles were not shelved, mention of Jesus Christ did not become verboten, and Absolutes and C’s remained at the core of sober strategies. That continued for decades, according to Ohioans, and lingers into the 21st century.

Things were different in New York. One thing was consistent—the use of Christianity’s most famous prayer in AA meeting formats. That was a good deal more understandable in America of the 1930s than it is in today’s more secular world.

Excuses

In 1991, I was told that the Lord’s Prayer was generic, notwithstanding its Christian roots. Bill Wilson had said the same in letters written before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled differently. Thank you Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

That Christianity’s Numero Uno prayer is generic is laughable.

Currently, I’m told that using the LP is purely a group conscience decision. So would serving champagne at medallion celebrations, I suppose. Groups are autonomous and can vote to do wrong things but those things are still wrong.

A classic excuse that gets dusted off and trotted out is that “We’ve always closed our meetings that way.” The “We’ve always” defence is one we encounter frequently in the traditional groups of Alcoholics Anonymous. There is a powerful sentiment opposing change in general and, most especially, any alteration to the Bigga Booka 86 years after its 1939 release.

Before I get accused of being a basher – going too negative – I’ll acknowledge that AA has helped many, many people. Not the least of those was Maury K., my late father who recently passed the 64 year mark since his last drink. Add my time to that and my immediate family has strong reasons to be grateful to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Nevertheless, one might wonder how many hundreds of thousands, or even millions, more came and went because of the silliness they found in chapters like “TO WIVES” or “WE AGNOSTICS?” How many left because they encountered traces of the Christianity of their childhood — a religion long ago abandoned?

There have been hundreds of thousands of women alcoholics helped by AA. And yet, even in the most recent production of our book, the alcoholic is male and the problem drinker’s spouse is a “wife.” In some camps, there was outrage that the chapter was titled “TO PARTNERS” in the recently released Plain Language Big Book. The term “partners” is “woke,” apparently.

AA has no exit polls, but many exit quite quickly. Are some driven away when the hear that AA is “spiritual not religious,” and then see evidence to the contrary?

The time has come to ditch the Lord’s Prayer. It’s terrible outreach.

Amen.

Daily Reflections for Modern Twelve Step Recovery written by bob k. and published by AA Agnostica on January 1, 2025 is being well-received. Many secular groups are using readings as meeting topics. Other books by bob k. are Key Players in AA History and The Secret Diaries of Bill W.

For a PDF of today’s article, click here: THE LORD’S PRAYER – OH, LORDY!!