The Origins of the 12 Steps
By Roger C. One alcoholic talking to another (Step 12) It all began in the waning months of 1934. Bill W, an incorrigible inebriate nearing the end of his rope, was visited at his...
Tagged: religion
Is There Room Enough in AA?
By J. L. from Oakland, California. Published in the AA Grapevine in October 1987. Copyright © AA Grapevine; reprinted with permission. Recently my twenty-eight-year-old son began to recognize his growing problem with alcohol (an episode with...
We Tread Innumerable Paths
By June L. El Granada, California. Copyright © The AA Grapevine, Inc. Published in November 1996. Desperation, and insistence by my estranged husband forced me to call AA nearly twenty-six years ago. I had misgivings...
U of T Student Attends We Agnostics Meeting
Talia Gordon is Features Editor at the University of Toronto’s independent student press, The Newspaper. She prepared this article on agnostics in AA for “the boozepaper,” an edition of the paper printed at the...
Prayer At Meetings: A World View
Many thanks to Nick H, one of the founders of Children of Chaos, an agnostic group in Austin, Texas. Nick found this article about a decade ago on a website, Sober Times, that no...
An Atheist at Alcoholics Anonymous
By Frank B. I am crunched tight in the fetal position, whimpering pitifully on a piss-stained carpet covered with a layer of crushed plastic Wild Oak Cider bottles. I have ended pretty much every...
Father of We Agnostics Dies
Charlie Polacheck was the co-founder of the first AA meeting ever to be called “We Agnostics” in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. He achieved another first when, in 2001, he launched another “We Agnostics” meeting,...
Separation of Church and AA
By Don S. Des Moines We Agnostics I stopped praying in meetings years ago, but held hands while others did. I recently stopped doing that, too. I now remain seated during the prayer. This...
The Varieties of Recovery Experience
The roads to recovery are many. Bill W, 1944. By Roger C. At about 40 pages in length, The Varieties of Recovery Experience is an intriguing essay. Written in 2005, the title is reminiscent of William...
Our Father Who Art Not in Public Schools
By bob k The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (to its own embarrassment) had a “Caucasians Only” membership policy until 1962. Viewing a recent miniseries about the Kennedys reminded me that it took the...
The Spirituality of Imperfection
We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. Bill W. By Roger C. If you were a member of AA and woke up tomorrow morning inspired to write a book about the spirituality of...
