June 17 in A.A. History

In 1926, Lois W.’s sister, Katharine “Kitty” Burnham [near right, 1924], married Gardner Swentzel [far right, 1916] at the Church of the New Jerusalem, near the Burnham home in Brooklyn. 
    Bill and Lois had interrupted their motorcycle tour in Alabama to attend the wedding. On their way, they had an accident outside Dayton, Tennessee, where Bill broke his collarbone and Lois twisted her leg, resulting in “water on the knee.” They spent a week recovering and then, after a few more days, shipped their motorcycle and belongings home while they took the train. As Lois described it:

Although we were in plenty of time for the wedding, I made a sorry looking matron of honor, when, with red gashes on my face, I limped up the aisle.

In 1935, Dr. Bob S. [left] had his last drink, according to recent historical research. The best known but incorrect date is June 10, the official founding date of Alcoholics Anonymous.
    Dr. Bob had decided to attend the annual American Medical Association convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from June 10 to 14. During the trip, he engaged in several days of binge drinking: on the way to the convention, during the convention, and while returning home. 

    Ul­ti­mate­ly, a drunken Dr. Bob ended up at the home of his office nurse in Cuy­a­hoga Falls, Ohio. His wife, Anne [near right], and Bill W. [far right] came to pick him up. With Bill’s help, Bob spent three days sobering up. Facing surgery at Akron City Hospital, he made a pivotal decision:

I am going through with this—I have placed both the operation and myself in God’s hands. I’m going to do what it takes to get sober and stay that way.

    Before the surgery, Bill gave Bob his last drink, a beer, along with a “goofball” (a barbiturate) to help steady him.

In 1942 , local A.A. groups hosted the inaugural New York City area meeting, which attracted 424 attendees. The event featured speakers Rev. Vincent Donovan [near right], Dr. William D. Silkworth [middle right], and Williard S. Richardson [far right], Treasurer of the Alcoholic Foundation and associate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

In 1967, T. Henry Williams [left] died and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Twinsburg, Ohio.

    From the early 1930s until 1939, he and his wife, Clarace, had hosted weekly Oxford Group meetings at their home [above right], welcoming early members like Henrietta Seiberling, Dr. Bob, Anne S., and others. Following Bill W.’s arrival in 1935, new members of the emerging Alcoholics Anonymous group in Akron, Ohio, were included as part of the “alcoholic squadron” of the Oxford Group.

June 16 in A.A. History

In 1938, James “Jimmy” B. [right], author of “The Vicious Cycle” in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, had his last drink following a successful week of selling car polish in New England, after which two customers had taken him to lunch.

    I spent the next four days wandering around New England half drunk, by which I mean I couldn’t get drunk and I couldn’t get sober. I tried to contact the boys in New York [City], but telegrams bounced right back, and when I got Hank [P.] on the telephone he fired me right then. This was when I really took my first good look at myself.… My brilliant agnosticism vanished, and I saw for the first time that those who really believed, or at least honestly tried to find a Power greater than themselves, were much more composed and contented than I had ever been, and they seemed to have a degree of happiness I had never known.

    Humbled, Jimmy returned to New York City, where the group welcomed him back. The story of “Ed,” mythologized on pages 143-145 in the chapter “Tradition 3” of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, represents Bill W.’s reinterpretation of this part of Jimmy’s journey.

In 1940, the first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded by James “Jimmy” B. and James “Jim” R. 
    Jim had gotten sober on 7 June 1933, more than 18 months before Bill W. At this time, he was working, without success, with two other alcoholics. Jimmy learned of Jim through the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City and reached out to him. Jim was very happy to have what Jimmy described as “AA” help.

    The two met with three other men at Jim’s house, located at 2936 St. Paul St. [left]. A few days later, Jimmy received a letter in Philadelphia from a Baltimore lawyer who wished to help his alcoholic brother. The lawyer offered his office in the Munsey Trust Building on Fayette St. [right, c. 1920s] as a meeting place. Just six days later, the same six men held Baltimore’s second A.A. meeting in the lawyer’s office. 

    Over the years, the group has moved several times, but the 857 Club (also known as the Rebos Club) has remained active for 85 years. It currently hosts 13 meetings a week at 100 S. Haven St. in the Canton/Highlandtown neighborhood.

June 15 in A.A. History

In 1938, in Lois Remembers, Lois Wilson will recall this date as the first time the term “Alcoholics Anonymous” was first used.

In 1945, Jeannie C. held the first A.A. meeting in Springfield, Missouri at her home, 1950 S. Jefferson Ave. [right, Mar 2016].
    During World War II, Jeannie temporarily lived at the Bellerive^* Hotel, a prominent and historic apartment hotel located at 214 East Armour Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, where she first tried to stay sober. After several setbacks, she came across Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post titled “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others.” She reached out to the Alcocolic Foundation in New York City and was connected with A.A. members in St. Louis. However, maintaining communication from Kansas City proved difficult. Almost by chance, Jeannie said, she noticed an ad in a Kansas City newspaper for people with a drinking problem. She wrote to the listed P.O. Box, which connected her to the Kansas City Number One group, where she ultimately found sobriety.
    After two years of sobriety, Jeannie returned to Springfield. She stayed sober for two years by making frequent trips to Kansas City, despite gas rationing, and by corresponding with Bobbie B. at the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City. Encouraged by the group, she wrote an editorial about A.A. for the local Springfield paper and secured a post office box. After gathering a dozen names, she organized Springfield’s first group meeting at her home on January 15.
    Later, Jeannie played a crucial role in establishing A.A. in Joplin, Missouri, after receiving a call from Jim S. asking how to start a group. In response, Jeannie rallied several carloads of members from Springfield and Kansas City and descended on Joplin.

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^* The document “A Journey into Sobriety: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous [in] Springfield, Missouri” states that it was the “Bellflower Hotel.” However, there is no evidence of a hotel by that name in Kansas City, suggesting that this may be a misspelling of “Bellerive Hotel [left].”

In 1953, Dr. Earle M. [right], author of “Physician Heal Thyself” in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, had his last drink and drug. Harry H. a friend and A.A. member, took him to his first A.A. meeting the following week at the Tuesday Night Mill Valley group, which was meeting in Wesley Hall at the Methodist Church in Mill Valley, California. Only four other people attended: a butcher, a carpenter, a baker, and Harry, a mechanic/inventor. From the start, Earle loved A.A., and although he sometimes critiqued the program, his devotion remained unwavering.

In 1969, n a letter to the International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA), Bill W. wrote,

… in recent years I have found nothing for greater inspiration than the knowledge that A.A. of tomorrow will be safe, and certainly magnificent, in the keeping of you who are the younger generation of A.A. today.

June 14 in A.A. History

In 1940, The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. published “the second article in a series on Alcoholics Anonymous, national brotherhood of recovered alcoholics,” titled “Clergymen Discover the Efficacy of A.A. in Curing Drunks” [left]. It read, in part,

    Progress of Alcoholics Anonymous during the past 18 months, especially in many larger cities of the Nation, has attracted the interest of leaders in religion and medicine. They have studied closely this movement that originated in New York City five years ago. They have sought to determine how, in so many cases, the Double A’s [sic] have succeeded in straightening out drunks where other formulas have failed.

In 1946, The March of Time newsreel service released “Problem Drinkers” [right: screen capture], a documentary on alcoholism that prominently featured Alcoholics Anonymous. These shorts were widely distributed and often shown in movie theaters before the main attraction.

In 1954, in a letter to Bernard Smith, Chair of the Alcoholic Foundation/General Service Board, Bill W. shared his thoughts on the upcoming second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, set to be published in 1955. His comments included:

    The story section of the Big Book is far more important than most of us think. It is our principal means of identifying with the reader outside of A.A.; it is the written equivalent of hearing speakers at an AA meeting; it is our show window of results. To increase the power and variety of this display to the utmost should be, therefore, no routine or hurried job.
    The best will be none too good. The difference between “good” and “excellent” can be the difference between prolonged misery and recovery, between life and death, for the reader outside A. A.
    The main purpose of the revision is to bring the story section up-to-date, to portray more adequately a cross-section of those who have found help. The audience for the book is people who are coming to Alcoholics Anonymous now. Those who are here have already heard our stories. Since the audience for the book is likely to be newcomers, anything from the point of view of content or style that might offend or alienate those who are not familiar with the program should be carefully eliminated.

Bill also outlined several “Basic Editorial Approaches” that remain relevant today, more than 70 years later. These included:

1.  The desire to reproduce realistic stories should not be overemphasized to the extent of producing an unrealistic book.… There should be no shrinking from the job of editing ruthlessly if such editing will preserve the story, without the realism.
2.  Profanity, even when mild, rarely contributes as much as it detracts. It should be avoided.
3. All minor geographic references should be avoided.
4. The stories should be organized coherently, either in terms of chronology or of the specific points the individual is trying to make.
5. “Selling” or other “gimmicks”—editorial and otherwise—should be avoided. The story section is not a popular magazine. The appearance and approach should be straightforward, without frills.
6. Humor should stem from the character of the storyteller and of the situations he describes, not be the result of gags.
7. The end results of editing should be that the stories will be suitable for reading aloud—at closed meetings, etc.—without embarrassment.

June 13 in A.A. History

In 1939, Lois W.’s [near right] diary entry for these dates noted that Hank P. [center right] was fighting with his wife, Kathleen [far right], and was determined to divorce her.

June 12 in A.A. History

In 1931, Rowland Hazard [right] departed on a three-month family trip to Europe. The Hazard Family Papers in the Manuscripts Division of the Rhode Island Historical Society show that he was in France on July 9, Italy on July 20, and apparently left for England on August 13. There is no evidence to suggest that Hazard visited Switzerland during this trip, making it highly unlikely that he saw Dr. Carl Jung, despite suggestions otherwise.

In 1941, Ruth Hock [left] wrote Henry S., a printer and member of A.A. in Washington, D.C., to get costs for printing the Serenity Prayer as a wallet card.

    She had received a clipping [right] of this prayer from Jack C. [below right], a newspaperman and fellow A.A. member, which he found in the “In Memoriam” section of the 28 May 1941 edition of the New York Herald Tribune. 

Ruth wanted to keep the clipping to include copies in outgoing mail. Horace suggested printing the prayer as a card and paid for a first printing. In response to Ruth’s request, Henry S. printed 500 cards [left: a vintage such card, date unknown] at his own expense and sent them to her, offering to provide more at no cost.

June 11 in A.A. History

In 1938, after what he described as “a very good week” selling car polish in New England, Jimmy B. [right] was taken out to lunch by two of his customers. Having been sober for just over five months, he refrained from drinking when they each ordered a round of beers, leaving both glasses untouched.

    Then it was my turn—I ordered, “Three beers,” but this time it was different; I had a cash investment of thirty cents [~$6.80 in 2025], and, on a ten-dollar-a-week salary [~$227 in 2025], that’s big thing. So I drank all three beers, one after the other, and said, “I’ll be seeing you, boys,” and went around the corner for a bottle. I never saw either of them again.

    The story of “Ed,” recounted—though inaccurately—on pages 143-5 of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, is Bill W.’s version of this part of Jimmy’s story.

In 1947, the 11th printing of the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous [left: copyright page], was published by Works Publishing, Inc. In this printing, all instances of the term “ex-alcoholic” were replaced with “ex-problem drinker” or “non-drinker.”

In 1969, Dr. Bob S.’s 23-year-old grand­daughter, Bonna [near right], the daughter of Sue S. and Ernie G. (A.A. #4, whose story is “The Seven Month Slip” in the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous), shot and killed herself after first killing her six-year-old daughter, Sandy [far right], Dr. Bob’s great-granddaughter. Sue and Ernie had been divorced for four years, and Sue believed that Bonna was an alcoholic and abused diet pills.

In 1971, Ernest “Ernie” G. [left], referred to in the Big Book (p. 159) as “the devil-may-care chap,” died at the age of 66. Sue wrote, “Ernie never got over [Bonna’s death], and he died two years later to the day…”

In 2016, the Anchorage Dry Dock Club [right], established in Alaska in March 1982 by Alcoholics Anonymous members “to create a permanent meeting place for meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous available to recovering alcoholics in the South Anchorage area,” is officially incorporated as “The Dry Dock of Anchorage, Inc.” Today,

    … the Anchorage Dry Dock operates a social club where recovering alcoholics and addict [sic], their families and friends can spend leisure hours in an alcohol and drug free environment. The Anchorage Dry Dock provides space where groups of Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Pills Anonymous or any other recovery group can hold meetings.

June 10 in A.A. History

In 1935, this widely accepted date for Dr. Bob’s last drink marks the official founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. However, many historians believe the founders may have gotten the date wrong in their attempts to reconstruct history, suggesting that Dr. Bob’s last drink actually occurred on June 17. Barefoot Bill L. confirmed through the American Medical Association (AMA) Archives in Chicago, Illinois, that the 1935 AMA Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was held from Monday to Friday, June 10–14, 1935. Others speculate that Dr. Bob attended specialty meetings before the convention, during which he started drinking, preventing him from attending the main event and leading him to go home early.

June 9 in A.A. History

In 1886, John Mark Whalon [right, listening to phonograph records, late 1942], commonly known by his middle name, was born. He would go on to become one of Bill W.’s closest and longest-lasting friends. In 1943 he would be featured in a Life magazine photo essay titled “Life Rides the Route of a Rural Mailman in Vermont,” from which this photograph was taken.

In 1924, Gardner Fayette Griffith, Bill W.’s maternal grandfather, died in Dorset, Vermont, due to valvular heart disease complicated by rheumatism. He and his wife, Ella A. Brock, began raising Bill and his sister when Bill was 10 years old. Gardner was buried in the East Dorset Cemetery [left: death certificate, gravestone].

Today in A.A. History—June 9–10

In 1945, Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted a two-day “Big Meeting” at the Cleveland Music Hall and the Carter Hotel^* [right], at 1012 Prospect Avenue, to celebrate A.A.’s 10th anniversary. Approximately 2,500 attendees from 36 states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 1 from Mexico participated. Bill W. reflected on his relationship with Dr. Bob S., stating, “Although we have had many differences, we have never had an angry word.” Dr. Bob shared that he had averaged at least an hour of reading each day for the past 10 years, consistently returning to the fundamental teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and the 13th chapter of I Corinthians in the Bible.

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^* At the time, the chef of the hotel’s swanky Rainbow Room was Ettore “Hector” Boiardi—better known today as Chef Boyardee.

Today in A.A. History—June 9–11

In 1978, the 21st International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA) took place at the Downtown Marriott in Atlanta, Georgia, with the theme “Love Will Keep Us Together” [left: registration form, program cover].

Supporting A.A. in Ukraine

[Note that this post was written in March 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian Federation.]

An A.A. friend sent me a very well-done flyer for an online A.A. meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It's shown to the left, but I've removed the Meeting ID and Passcode; I don't want to make it that  easy to attend. When I first saw it, I thought, "I only wish that we could do something similar for all the Russian alcoholics, who must also be terribly distressed at this time" (especially those in the Russian military).

This flyer was immediately followed by a less well-done message, shown below, purporting to be from "Ukrainian AA Service Center and the Ukrainian AA Service Board" to "the AA World Community." I was skeptical. This looked so much like a myth that I expected to find it debunked at Snopes ("the internet’s definitive fact-checking resource"). I did not. But I did find an article titled, "UKRAINE: New Crisis, Grimly Familiar Disinformation Trends", which said, in part, 

It is a grim measure of the frequency of crisis events in recent years, and the ubiquity of online disinformation, that when a major story breaks — a terrorist attack, a mass shooting, or an act of war — the writers and editors at Snopes can typically predict what comes next. Recycled videos and photographs, stripped from their proper context, and the same old tropes, all designed to inflame or confuse, or even amuse, the reader.

This is followed by a "grim overview of the familiar disinformation trends and recurring memes… in the opening days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."

But, as I said, I only later looked on Snopes. First I searched the Internet. To my surprise, I immediately got a hit that looked very promising. It was on the aa.lviv.ua website and looked like this:

Since I don't know what I presumed was Ukrainian, and not having much patience, I immediately had the page automatically translated into English. It is indeed Ukrainian, and here's the English translation I got:

It was only later that I noticed that an English translation of the message follows the Ukrainian on the original, one click further down. I felt stupid and impatient for not looking.

Ultimately, I decided I'd check into the Kyiv online meeting and see if there was some way I could be helpful. I tried to log in a few minutes before it was to start. Due to the meeting having reached capacity, it was impossible to get in. It then occurred to me, If I'm having this much trouble getting in, there are probably Ukrainians who are also unable to get in. It horrified me to think that I could have had a part in disrupting their meeting. If, by some miracle, I had been able to get in, I sure hope I would have realized that the meeting was at capacity and left. But even if I had, my spot would have been filled by a non-Ukrainian.

I tried joining after the meeting was over. It was bedlam. It appeared that most people were unmuted and there were multiple conversations going on at the same time. I saw one man, who appeared to be that single Ukrainian member. He appeared to be quite stressed out. I also saw some A.A.friends of mine, which was disappointing. I only stayed a minute. The last thing they needed at that point was yet one more non-Ukrainian A.A. to join the fray.

Tonight, I learned from a reliable source that only one of the seven or eight regular Ukrainian group members was able to get into the meeting (presumably, the Zoom host). No doubt, many of the attendees had good intentions, although I'm also pretty sure some did not. Clearly, many also didn't think through the consequences of their actions.

And then, very late last night, My friend said that another friend of hers had found a Facebook post about the A.A. meeting in Kyiv earlier, shown at the left. It was so disheartening to read. Yes, many non-Ukrainians—maybe hundreds of them—got to feel good for a minute. Meanwhile, seven or eight locals never got to their meeting.

God As We Understand Him?

 I recently read Bill W.'s essay, “God As We Understand Him: The Dilemma of No Faith”, in The Language of the Heart (originally published as “The Dilemma of No Faith” in the April 1961 issue of the A.A. Grapevine). He begins this essay by saying, “The phrase ‛God As We Understand Him’ is perhaps the most important expression to be found in our whole AA vocabulary.”

For a long time, I've been vaguely uncomfortable with this wording, even though I knew what it meant the first time I heard it. In the last few years, but not in my early sobriety, I've sometimes heard newcomers asking about this expression, “How can anyone understand God?”  in a way that led me to think that perhaps this was an impediment for them. I realized my discomfort is just that. Perhaps understanding is not the best word. I think “God As We Conceive of God” is closer to the intended meaning. It will be interesting to see how the proposed plain language Big Book^* (i.e., Alcoholics Anonymous) will deal with this phrase. If at all.

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^* If you don't know what this is or what it means, check out Advisory Action #28 (on p 7) in this document: Conference Advisory Actions of the 71st General Service Conference, a list of all such actions adopted at the 71st General Service Conference last April.

19,560 days

Yes, I am still sober, still above ground. My posts slowed down drastically and then stopped altogether because I feared it would become too easy to identify who I was from my posts, due to circumstances of my life. Already, my brother had figured out this was me. For those who don't realize it, I was doing my best to respect Tradition 12. My brother already knew I was a deeply involved member of A.A.

Future posts will probably be less personal, on the whole. I hope this is, at least in part, because I have less interest in myself and more interest in others [v. Alcoholics Anonymous, p 84].

A.A. in these times of pandemic has been a great experience for me personally. Since mid-March 2020, I've attended online meetings on every continent that has them (Antarctica does not, due to insufficient bandwidth). I've been regularly attending meetings all over the US and Canada, as well as in Australia and South Africa. It has also become much easier to find workshops, conventions, conferences, and meetings that focus on topics like Traditions, Concepts, The A.A. Service Manual, and A.A. history. These are topics that I love learning about. I've been sober almost 29 years, been involved in General Service for 25½ of those years, but I sometimes think I've learned more about General Service in the last 16 months than in all the time before. Maybe not. Maybe it just feels that way.

Eighteen years

Still here, still sober, even if I'm not posting. Yesterday I celebrated 18 years of continuous sobriety.

Seventeen years

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my first A.A. meeting, which marked the beginning of my current spell of continuous sobriety. I can't say I celebrated, because I was too busy doing things that are little more than the blessings of a sober life:

• Took my car in to have the oil changed and the engine light checked—I not only have a driver's license, I also have a car
• Worked—I am employable today
• Chaired a meeting of the local chapter of a professional organization—not only employed, but on the Board of Directors and also Program Chair
• Attended a funeral

The funeral, ironically enough, was for Bumblebee, someone I sponsored for a while. I suspect I was his last sponsor. I hadn't seem him in at least a year, and sometimes wondered if he named me when asked if he had a sponsor. Then I would wonder if he was even making meetings.

Apparently not. He was definitely out there. He committed suicide by stabbing himself to death in the parking lot of the apartment complex where he lived. In the femoral artery. Thank you, Bumblebee, for keeping it green for me on my anniversary.

Tonight I will celebrate with dinner and a meeting! Praise HP, from whom all blessings flow!

Is A.A. a religion?

On 17 March 2009, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an opinion in an appeal of the case of Glenside Center, Inc. [a clubhouse hosting meetings of various twelve-step programs] v. Abington Township. A lower court had found that the Glenside Center violated local zoning laws, after the Township received numerous complaints regarding an "adverse parking situation" that "made driving difficult and dangerous and prevented emergency traffic from getting through." There were also complaints about "urinating in public, using obscene language and trash which had been left by members attending meetings." Excessive noise and loitering are also mentioned in the opinion. (Clearly demonstrating the danger of these kinds of totally inappropriate, inconsiderate and non-sober behavior at any A.A. meeting.)

The appeal was on the basis of four issues, namely that the Zoning Board:

1. had incorrectly found that the use of the building did not meet the requirement of being primarily used as an "office,"
2. had denied the clubhouse its rights under RLUIPA¹,
3. had violated the clubhouse's right to free exercise of religion by determining that the clubhouse was a "Community Center," and
   
4. had failed to prove a compelling governmental interest and had failed to use the least restrictive means to further that interest.
   

My interest is only in the 2^nd and 3^rd issues insofar as they relate to whether or not A.A. can legally be considered a religion. In its opinion, the Court essentially determined that Alcoholics Anonymous is not a religion:

Glenside argues... it is a protected entity under RLUIPA because its activities are a religious exercise.... Glenside argues that AA is not a religion, but its activities and programs constitute a free exercise of religion under RLUIPA. It contends that the 12-step program that AA follows is certainly based upon a belief in a higher power, and various AA members testified that they found a connection with God by attending AA meetings. Glenside directs our attention to a New York Court of Appeals case, Griffin v. Coughlin,... which held that an AA meeting constituted an exercise of religion.

The Board, however, argues and we agree that Glenside presents no binding authority for its proposition that an AA meeting is a religious exercise as that term is used in RLUIPA.² Glenside failed to prove that any of the meetings are administered by a religious leader, i.e., a minister, priest, rabbi or other spiritual leader. Glenside does not hold any religious services or have any religious affiliations. Its Articles of Incorporation state nothing about being incorporated for a religious purpose, but only to assist people in recovering from addiction. Similarly, Glenside’s printed materials state that Glenside is not a religious organization and do not require that members possess any religious belief to participate. While Glenside argues that members have found a connection with God at its meetings, clearly, the primary purpose of the group meetings, whether they be for AA, NA or DA, is to support individuals who are recovering from alcohol, drug, gambling and debtor addictions, not to advance religion. Particularly where AA and NA meetings are concerned, the primary concern of those meetings is to treat substance abuse. Moreover, Glenside and others on its behalf testified that members come from all religious walks of life whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim or non-believers in a higher power. The fact that the 12-step program is used and it contains references to “God” and a “Higher Power” does not mean that all members believe that they are partaking in a religious experience when they are attending an AA or NA meeting.

Good for the Court, bad for Glenside Center, Inc. Bad, not because they lost their appeal, but for (1) encouraging the courts to consider A.A. a religion, (2) giving the appearance of violating A.A. tradition of having no opinion on outside issues, and (3) for providing a forum for a number of members of A.A. to violate A.A.'s tradition of anonymity at the level of press, radio and film (not to mention on television and on the Internet).

Glenside Center is not in any sense A.A. or part of A.A. It is a separately organized enterprise with the [presumable] purpose of providing meeting space for various twelve-step organizations. From the point of view of A.A. groups, it is in no respect different from a church, municipal building or community center providing space for meetings—all these entities are nothing more than landlords.

However, I suspect that all the principals of the Glenside Center are members of A.A. As stated in the opinion, many of those who testified on behalf of the Glenside Center are also members of A.A. One was identified by full name as a member of A.A. for 53 years (you'd think he'd know better after that long). The Center's argument included the following:

While AA or its related organizations do not claim to be an established religion, the constituent groups can and have been viewed as engaging in an exercise of religion. The Act broadly defines religious exercise to include "any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious beliefs."

I became aware of this ruling when a friend in A.A. sent me a link to an entry about it in a Washington Post blog named "Under God." In it, David Waters argues that the Court made a mistake on the basis of four objections. After each objection, I'll give my objections to Mr Waters' objections.

Objection 1: Any person of faith can be a spiritual leader.

Actually, I would go even further than Mr Waters. Lack of "a religious leader, i.e., a minister, priest, rabbi or other spiritual leader" should not preclude a gathering from being religious. A prime example would be an unprogrammed meeting for worship of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers.

Objection 2: Assisting people in recovering from any addiction is a religious (and spiritual) purpose.

Accepting this argument would make every rehab and detox in the U.S. a religious organization. It would also make seeing any health-care practitioner for help with an addiction into a religious activity.

Objection 3: Any group that advances the healing of bodies and souls (and the forgiveness of debts and debtors) also advances religion.

By this argument, entering into any course of psychiatric or psychological therapy, participating in any of numerous self-help organizations or classes, going to see the doctor, going to the gym to work out, or seeking credit counseling would be considered a religious activity. This is patently absurd.

Objection 4: Clearly the court is unaware of the history and purpose of AA.

Clearly Mr Waters is not fully aware of the history and purpose of A.A. Let me address each of the facts he cites in support of his objection.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded as a spiritual program, direct outgrowth of the Oxford Group at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York.

True. But it's also true that the Oxford Group (known since 2001 as Initiatives of Change) considered itself non-religious. Furthermore A.A. separated from the Oxford Group at least in part due to the latter's belief that alcoholism was a sin rather than a disease, and to sever what might appear as ties to a Christian organization.

AA meetings include recitations of The Lord's Prayer and the Serenity Prayer.

Actually, this seems to me to be a reasonably good argument. It's one reason I do not participate in saying the Lord's Prayer at meetings. Not all meetings use the Lord's Prayer, though I'd have to say that most in the U.S.³ do. As for the Serenity Prayer, so far as I know, it is not perceived to be associated with Christianity, despite its purported author being a Christian theologian. As insightful as it may be to us drunks, the idea would seem to be quite universal in thought and application among those who consider and practice such things. Indeed, the essential idea can be found in a Mother Goose rhyme:

For every ailment under the sun

There is a remedy, or there is none;

If there be one, try to find it;

If there be none, never mind it.

Back to Mr Waters' argument:

"AA indirectly derived much of its inspiration from the Church," Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Rector of Calvary Church, said in 1955.

Key word: indirectly. I'd say that a huge number of institutions of Western civilization were indirectly derived from Christianity, not the least of which is the United States of America. Furthermore, citing a single person—a non-A.A. member at that—saying this in a single speech is not much of an argument. Bill W., co-founder of A.A. and a much better source to cite, said of the phrase God as we understood him that it was "tremendously important," "a ten-strike," enabling "thousands to join AA who would have otherwise gone away," opening the door to "those of fine religious training and those of none at all," making "one’s religion the business of the AA member himself and not that of his society."⁴

AA's Twelve Traditions includes No. 2: "For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority -- a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience." Seven of AA's famous Twelve Steps reference God, including:

• 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
• 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
• 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
• 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Newcomers to A.A. are commonly encourage to find a power greater than themselves even if that power is nothing more than a doorknob or an ashtray. Many A.A. members attain long-term sobriety using A.A. itself as a higher power (God is sometimes identified as an acronym, standing for "Group of Drunks"). Even casual acquaintance with A.A.'s program makes it clear that this higher power can be of whatever conception one so chooses. See also the quote of Bill W.'s referred to above.

"Would that the Church were like this," Shoemaker said in 1955, "ordinary men and women with great need who have found a great Answer, and do not hesitate to make it known wherever they can - a trained army of enthusiastic, humble, human workers whose efforts make life a different thing for other people!"

Is Mr Waters saying that a non-religious group of people cannot exhibit these same characteristics? I suspect that any number of political activists would be happy with such a description.

If a group that meets under spiritual precepts, performs rituals, and seeks to heal its members isn't religious, what else is it?

Rituals? To what rituals does Mr Waters refer? He hasn't mentioned any up to this point in the article and doesn't mention any after this either. And without rituals, all that's left is a group that uses spiritual precepts and seeks to heal its members. In at least one sense of the word spiritual, a vast number of groups satisfy this description.

Indeed, much of the argument comes down to whether or not there is a difference between spirituality and religion, and what that difference might be. From the American Heritage Dictionary:

spir·i·tu·al
ADJECTIVE:1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. See synonyms at immaterial. 2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul. 3. Of, from, or relating to God; deific. 4. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred. 5. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.

As will be clear to anyone who is familiar with A.A. and its program of recovery, A.A. itself would not accept any definition other than one with the broadest possible meaning. The meaning of A.A. being a spiritual program could be that it is religious to the member who is herself religious. That meaning could be only that it is intangible or immaterial to the member who is himself not religious. A.A. itself doesn't care. A.A. is areligious.

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¹Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act—a federal statute passed in 2000 to provide stronger protection for religious freedom in the land-use and prison contexts.

²The opinion footnotes this sentence with the following:

RLUIPA defines “Religious exercise” as follows:

(A) In general. The term “religious exercise” includes any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.

(B) Rule. The use, building, or conversion of real property for the purpose of religious exercise shall be considered to be religious exercise of the person or entity that uses or intends to use the property for that purpose.

³I know from personal experience that the Lord's Prayer is rarely used in Australia, and that because of this Australian members of A.A. pride themselves on being more consistent with A.A. principles than A.A. in the U.S. is.

⁴Full quote, from A Conversation with Bill W., A Synopsis of the Question-Answer Period following Bill W.'s talk at the NCCA Syposium in New York in 1960:

When these Steps were shown to my friends, their reactions were mixed indeed. Some argued that six steps had worked fine, so why twelve? From our agnostic contingent there were loud cries of too much “God.” Others objected to an expression which I had included which suggested getting on one’s knees while in prayer. I heavily resisted these objections for months. But I finally did my statement about a suitable prayerful posture and finally went along with that now tremendously important expression, “God as we understand Him” — this expression having been coined, I think, by one of our former atheist members. This was indeed a ten-strike. That one has since enabled thousands to join AA who would have otherwise gone away. It enabled people of fine religious training and those of none at all to associate freely and to work together. It made one’s religion the business of the AA member himself and not that of his society.

Still above ground and sober

For anyone who's wondering, I'm doing okay. I got elected to another Area office and expect to continue in General Service for another two years. Nimue is divorcing me after nearly three years of separation. Despite that, I feel as good as I have in a long time. Despite some heavy bouts of depression over the last nine months, I recently thought to myself, "Ah, so this is what it feels like not to be depressed! I had forgotten."

Despite the fact that I haven't posted for over nine months, every now and then, someone adds a comment to an old post. This, if nothing else, sporadically reminds me that I'd like to taking up at least semi-regular posting again. Absolutely no promises, we'll see.

Today's reflection

The entry for March 4th in Daily Reflections has long been among my favorites:

The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort. Every now and then I pause to take a good look at my progress. More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting where I thought I had made my final pass with the blade. As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed (it’s easier when they are young), I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labors are rewarded. My sobriety grows and bears fruit.

The Bill W. quote inspires me, and the garden metaphor is beautiful and accurate. It describes where I am, where I have mostly been for quite some time.

I am a product of God's grace and mercy. Of his grace, because I got something I didn't deserve; of his mercy, because I didn't get what I did deserve.

Bad language in meetings

The groups in one of the Districts in our Area are having trouble finding locations in which to meet. They've been kicked out of certain churches and the word seems to be spreading among those churches that we're not very good tenants. The two primary issues are (a) too much bad language and (b) smokers congregating around the entrances and leaving butts lying around.

My home group has a requests in our format bearing on these issues and we have [usually] dealt with abuses as they come up. It's something I highly suggest that other groups consider with regard to what their group conscience should be. Every time I hear someone using language generally considered impolite I shudder, imagining some pillar of the church congregation passing by in the hallway at that moment and overhearing us. Personally I have little objection to people using whatever language they wish, but I also think it's important that many people do take offense at such language and that we need to be especially wary with regard to our landlords.

Not too long ago I heard something that covers my feelings on this subject very well:

The absence of profanity offends no one.

Studying the steps as laid out in the Big Book

IMNSHO, there's no way to become familiar with the program of Alcoholics Anonymous like doing a study of the Big Book, paragraph by paragraph, in a group, with plenty of time to comment and discuss with each other.

Tuesday night my sponsor, in his home, started [what I think is] the fourth such annual study group. Most years, including this year, we use what I recently learned is the Hyannis rotation to determine which pages in the Big Book to read for which steps. It comprises "The Doctor's Opinion" and chapters 3 ("More About Alcoholism"), 4 ("We Agnostics"), 5 ("How It Works"), 6 ("Into Action") and 7 ("Working with Others"). While not specified we usually read Appendix II ("Spiritual Experience"), which of course was added after the first printing of the first edition to clarify that not every alcoholic need have a as vivid an experience as Bill W. had in order to recover. Last year we also used Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.

It was originally my suggestion that we follow the Hyannis rotation. I knew about it because of a regular Big Book Step Study group that I attend whenever I can. At that group's meeting, we read a page at a time rather than a paragraph at a time, but the discussion generally stays focused on the step being studied and is usually quite excellent. I've learned a tremendous amount there.

That Big Book Step Study group was started about a dozen years ago and originally used the chairperson's guidelines (somewhat loosely I believe—I only started attending later) and the Hyannis Preamble, modified so that only those who had worked all twelve steps could share. Early on, by group conscience, they abandoned that requirement, as well as the one in the Hyannis Preamble that only those who had worked the step being studied could share.

So far as I know this group was never—and is still not—listed in the Hyannis directory of "official" Big Book Step Study meetings. I'm just as glad. The idea of putting an "official" seal of approval on any group disturbs me. I'm not exactly sure why, though the first—and, so far, only—thought that comes to mind is that it may violate the Third Tradition: an A.A. group can have no other affiliation than that with A.A. itself.

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P.S. On an entirely unrelated note, the fortune cookie that came with my Thai lunch said, "You are the master of every situation." Ha!

I'm baaaack

Well, that took longer than I had expected. LOL! I'm not sure what "that" was, but I never intended to go almost six weeks without posting. I appreciate all the people who checked in with me to make sure I was okay.

Several things happened. First, in early December, I was consumed with preparing for a meeting of the Area Committee. Next I had to get my affairs in order because I was leaving town in mid-December. Then I actually left town, traveling across the continent for Christmas with my four grandchildren (and daughter S-Cat and her husband Revson). Finally, after my return, I had some trouble adjusting to my normal life again. I hope I'm now back in stride.

Late in November I started up on a new med. I'm still not quite sure how I'm doing. At worst, the nature of my depression has changed from being angry and pissed off all the time to merely having trouble getting out of bed every day—part of what I meant above by "trouble adjusting to my normal life." At best, I'm doing much better and the difficulty getting going has been due to jet lag, not having any work and my natural laziness. I need to check in with my therapist and I'll be seeing my primary care guy late in the month. I am having some other physical symptoms that may or may not be due to the sertraline: muscle clenching, some congestion and a mild cough.

The congestion and mild cough may be something I picked up from my grandchildren. In any case, I sure enjoyed it. It wasn't exactly relaxing and I didn't get a lot of sleep—the four grandchildren are all age 6 and under. I slept in the living room and the oldest got up like clockwork at 6:15 AM every morning. He made sure I got up then too, usually by coming in and jumping on top of me. It's been many years since I spent Christmas morning with small children and that was a real delight. The four of them got a huge pile of presents. I worry that they're going to be spoiled, but I didn't hesitate in contributing to that, hehehe.

My son-in-law Revson and I spent the afternoon of the day after Christmas fishing the with two older grandchildren. What a blast! The two of us started off by hooking the fish—spotted bay bass, and we were catching and releasing—then passing the rods to the two kids. But we had three rods, so the oldest grandchild started hooking and catching his own. In the end the two of them pulled in well over a dozen fish. He got a few more than she did, but she got the biggest one of the day, so everyone was happy.

Revson has started attending A.A. since I last visited so I got to attend more than my usual number of A.A. meetings. That was a real treat; I met some wonderful people. There were a number of things I noticed about A.A. there that are different from A.A. here. (1) We have anniversaries: e.g. 30-, 60-, 90-day ones as well as yearly ones; they have yearly "birthdays" (and actually sing "Happy Birthday"), while milestones of less than a year are "special occasions". (2) When reading "How It Works", they recite in unison, "God could and would if he were sought"; here, we don't. (3) Their chants after closing (generally with the Lord's Prayer, just like we do) are longer and more enthusiastic than ours are.

I heard early on that the single most common thing that alcoholics communicate with GSO in New York about is a complaint along the lines of "I just moved to this part of the country from somewhere and they don't do A.A. right here!" One time when I visited GSO I asked if this was true. Turns out that it is. I can't help observing that while A.A. does seem to be practiced slightly differently in different parts of the world, people everywhere seem to be able to stay sober. And that's all that really counts, isn't it?