God, AA and the muzzeling of religion.

I found the following story referenced and commented on over at The Creative Minority Report; http://christianpost.com/Intl/Overseas/2009/03/e-u-equality-laws-threaten-to-empower-atheists-to-sue-more-10/


The Archbold brothers do a jam up job, they're out of my league. I'm posting it here just to give my own little slant on this idiocy.


Background; I'm a recovering drunk. The "recovering" part came courtesy of Alcoholics Anonymous which brought the original 12 step program for behavior modification regarding substance abuse into being. A BIG part of that program centers around finding a Higher Power in your life, something/someone you may choose to call God.


As you might guess, the wording is loosey-goosey for a reason. There are all sorts of folk coming into AA with all sorts of baggage regarding religion & God. So in order not to scare away someone who really needs help the emphasis on both is kept light. I've known some religious folk to make very disparging comments about that. These same folk have no clue about the bats flying around various alkie belfries.

Anyway, reading the linked article I'm hit with the thought of how soon it would be before some nitwit sued an AA group. If you think it can't happen, think again. AA groups have been sued for the damnedest things, most of the time it doesn't stick because the suit will run afoul around that "anonymous" word. But sometimes there are repercussions.

So an unintended consequence of this idiocy could be the diminishment of a program that has helped millions over the past several decades. Make no mistake about it, the whole "Higher Power" schtick is one of the things that makes AA work.

As proof of that, there ARE two other programs specifically set up without that HP emphasis. They're called Rational Recovery and Smart Recovery and have been around for about twenty or so years. If you've never heard about them, theres a reason. That reason is their track record is nowhere near as successful as AA's. There have been some successes with RR and SR, but they're fairly few. God love 'em for the good that they HAVE done.

My own experience with RR was in listening to former AA members who had joined as they proudly told me how it enabled them to maintain their dignity by not relying on belief and a relationship with anything else to address their problem. Every one of the folk I'm talking about went back out drinking. I've no experience with SR, when invited by someone to try it out my response was, "I've already got over ten years sobriety with AA. Why should I mess with what works?"

And I'll confess, by the time I wanted to stop my drinking, my "dignity" was nonexistent! So I'd have gone dancing the Funky Chicken bareassed down the nearest interstate highway if it meant getting sober. Some of us are a tad bit desperate when we come in the AA rooms.

But the point I'm making is that when you intentionally muzzle mention of God it doesn't just effect churchgoers, it hits a lot of other people also. And some of those people show up in the damnedest places. Trust me on that one, been there, done that & got the tee-shirt.