A 12 Step Agnostic
By Steve K. As a child I had the common experience of growing up in a home with an alcoholic parent. My stepfather was a daily drinker who was incapable of forming a loving relationship...
Tagged: 12 steps
Rewriting the 12 Steps for Atheists
By Tracy Chabala One of the biggest concerns of many AA newbies is the “God thing.” I sympathize, because I still have an issue with the God thing after eight years in AA. I’ve...
Listening for the Reality
This article was printed in the AA Grapevine in 1991. That’s a long time ago, and yet it still resonates today. That definitely makes it a sign of an unresolved problem within our Fellowship. By...
The Therapeutic Effects of the 12 Steps
By Allen Berger, PhD The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been heralded as the most important spiritual development of the past 100 years. It is my opinion that they should also be considered...
A Skeptic’s Journey to a Higher Power
Originally published in TGIF at Renascent on February 27, 2015. TGIF Weekly Recovery News is an e-newsletter published on Fridays by Renascent, one of Canada’s leading abstinence-based treatment centre, and features articles and lived experience essays...
The Buddha and Bill W.
By Regina Walker Originally published on March 3, 2015 in The Fix. AA is often accused of being a Christian cult, but it has a lot more in common with Buddhism than many may...
The Steps Cafeteria-Style
“The 12 Steps are so formed and presented that an alcoholic can either ignore them completely, take them cafeteria-style, or embrace them wholeheartedly.” (from the Conference-approved pamphlet, A Member’s Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous)...
If You Want What We Have
By Russ H. The vast majority of AA members have heard How It Works read aloud at the beginning of meetings. It is such a common practice that many of us have passively committed...
Al-Anon Agnostica
By Lisa M. Hi, my name is Lisa and I am not an alcoholic. I am, however, the daughter, the ex-wife and the mother of alcoholics. I was raised in a house with a father...
Step 12 and How to Work a Program
This is two chapters from the pioneering book: The Alternative Twelve Steps: A Secular Guide to Recovery. It was originally written by two women, Martha Cleveland and Arlys G., and published in 1991. As valuable today...
AA as “stealth Buddhism”
By Thom L I’ve sometime heard at meetings in western Massachusetts that AA is “stealth Buddhism”. I like to think of the historical Buddha as one of the first addictions counselors. He observed that...
Step 11
This is a chapter from the pioneering book: The Alternative Twelve Steps: A Secular Guide to Recovery. It was originally written by two women, Martha Cleveland and Arlys G., and published in 1991. As valuable today as...
Practising Virtue and 12 Step Recovery
By Steve K. Introduction My goal in writing this essay is to demonstrate how practising virtue – defined as a trait or quality of character considered to be morally good or desirable – is...
The Atheist Embedded
This is the second chapter of the book: Common Sense Recovery: An Atheist’s Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous by Adam N. The Atheist Embedded Like it or not, the religious viewpoint predominates in Alcoholics Anonymous....
