April 22 in A.A. History

In 1957, Broadcasting Telecasting magazine, known as “The Business-weekly of Radio and Television” [right: masthead], published an item titled “‘Mr. Hope’ on WWJ-TV” [left], a show airing in Detroit, Michigan. The article described the program as follows:

    … a public service program instituted by WWJ-TV, which describes the plight of the problem drinker. Designed to tell the public about the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, Mr. Hope frequently features a panel of physicians and businessmen to discuss drinking problems and to encourage individuals with such difficulties to turn to the [sic] AA.

In 1974, Time magazine published a cover [right] story titled “Alcoholism: New Victims, New Treatments,” which stated:

    Most of the methods owe a large debt to Alcoholics Anonymous, the oldest, the big­gest (650,000 to 750,000 members) and still the most successful organization by far for helping alcoholics.… And, write Sociologists Harrison Trite and Paul Roman: “Despite lay leadership, A.A. has apparently achieved a success rate that surpasses those of professional therapies.”

    The issue had two related articles titled “Behavior: The Effects of Alcohol” and “Behavior: The Price of Alcoholism: Five Case Histories.”

In 2004, Robert Holbrook “Smitty” S., Jr [left], 85, died. He was the son of Anne and Dr. Bob S. and the last living witness to the first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous’ co-founders, his father and Bill W.

In 2012, Ruth O., 97, of Toms River, New Jersey died with 68 years and 8 days of sobriety. At the time of her death, she may have had the longest sobriety among all previous members. She was well-known for “Ruth’s Prayer” [right]. She also knew and assisted Dr. William D. Silkworth, who wrote the letters in “The Doctor’s Opinion” in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 2022, Нэргүй архичин үйлчилгээний гарын авлага (Mongolian A.A. Service Manual), approved by the 13th Mongolian A.A. Conference, went into effect. Subsequently, the Mongolian General Service Board elected Tseegii to represent Mongolia at the World A.A. Service Meeting in October.

April 22–24

In 1949, the Second Annual Tri-State Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous [left: program cover], encompassing West Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, was held in Amarillo, Texas. Headquarters for the event was the Herring Hotel; additional activities took place at the Washington Club, at 2024 Washington St.

April 22–27

In 1968, at the 18th Annual General Service Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• To conduct a survey among A.A. members in order to gather more meaningful information regarding the effectiveness of the A.A. program of recovery.
• The first World Service Meeting be held in New York City, in the fall of 1969.
• Approved a proposition to issue the World Directory in two editions—one for the United States and Canada, the second for other countries.
• Quebec be granted a third bilingual Delegate to be elected as a member of Panel 19. The… newly designated Conference area to be called the Northeast area of Quebec.
• Since the language of the General Service Conference is English, and since [it] is not equipped to provide translators,… it is desirable that Delegates elected to the Conference should have knowledge of English for their own benefit and for the benefit of their areas.
• Stressed the need for better communication between the Delegates, Committee Members, G.S.R.’s [sic] and groups, pointing out that better informed groups will support G.S.O. without the need of a “hard sell” from the Delegate.

In 1974, at the 24th General Service Conference, held at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• That in memory of A.A.’s co-founders, the last talk of each be prepared in pamphlet form and distributed [left: original pamphlet].
• Part I (U.S. and Canada) of the World Directory be divided into three sections, each section subdivided by region…
• Work be scheduled so that Part II of the World Directory (all other countries) may be distributed before summer.
• [Citing Tradition 3,] affirmed that all A.A. groups… be listed in the World Directory [R]eview and return completed draft of Conference Report one week after its receipt.
• Committee members receive agendas for their committee only, but other committees’ agenda be sent upon request.
• The wording of the Eleventh Tradition remain as is, and that delegates explain that “TV” is implicit in the last phrase of the Tradition: “… at the level of press, radio, and films.”

April 22–27

In 1979, at the 29th Annual General Service Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• That the names of “alcohol and pills” groups not be listed in the A.A. directories. 
• [That] “Problems Other Than Alcohol” be Conference-approved. 
• The Twelve Steps of A.A. be [added] in the pamphlet “Too Young?”… 
• The pamphlet for the older alcoholic be approved… “Now It’s Time to Start Living”.… 
• The biographies of Dr. Bob and Bill W. be… separate books [vs] a joint biography. 
• [That] no… ceiling be set on the number of G.S.O./GV staff eligible to vote, but that the delegates never have less than 66⅔% of the total Conference votes.

April 21 in A.A. History

In 1939, Hank P. wrote to Janet Blair, a non-alcoholic editor of Alcoholics Anonymous in Peekskill, New York, enclosing a signed first printing of the first edition of the book in grateful appreciation of her editorial contributions.

In 1946, The New York Times Magazine published an article titled “The Sick Person We Call an Alcoholic" [left], about Mrs. Marty M., a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the article, she “tells what we can do to help those who would quit but can’t.”
[Marty, a lesbian, used the title “Mrs.” to protect her privacy, as prejudice against homosexuality was prevalent in the 1940s. Both she and the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism, which she helped establish, faced significant challenges during that time, and revealing her sexual orientation would have damaged both.]

Today in A.A. History—April 21–25 

In 1954, at the 4th General Service Conference, held at the Hotel Commo­dore in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• Unanimously, that the name The Alcoholic Foundation be changed to The General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc.; and
  
• “that Delegates come to the Conference being only tentatively instructed for the following reasons:
  1. that each Delegate bring to the Conference the thinking of his area, and
  2. that the maximum wisdom of the Conference be achieved and voted through the exchange of these ideas at the Conference.”

Today in A.A. History—April 21–26

In 1964 , at the 14th General Service Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the Atlantic Province Area was split into 1) New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and (2) Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
    The following were among other advisory actions:

• That the responsibilities and functions of Conference Committees be explained thoroughly, prior to the selection of committeemen, at future Conferences [and] that consideration be given to the possibility of scheduling a workshop sessionon the functions of Conference Committees.
• That all members of the [Agenda] committee receive copies of all correspondence on agenda matters[,]… be informed of the action taken on their recommendations to the Policy Committee [and]… review background material on previous Conferences’ actions, as a guide in preparing recommendations for the 1965 Conference agenda.
• That all Grapevine committee members henceforth be kept informed during the year on all Grapevine matters of Conference importance.
• Approved an agreement between Bill W., co-founder, and A.A. World Services, Inc., covering royalties derived from Bill's writings.

Today in A.A. History—April 21–26

In 1969, at the 19th General Service Conference, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• Recommended that the story of a young A.A. be added to the next reprint of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous,” and that the present stories be edited, when necessary, in order that current readers will be able to identify.
• Recommended that the General Service Conference approve the following resolution of the… General Service Board of Trustees:
  “We will endeavor to avoid participation on radio and TV programs, unless
  • We are given adequate time for preparation.
  • Our presence will serve an A.A. objective.
  • The primary discussion is appropriate for A.A.—not concerned with crime, sex, controversy or any other sensationalism.
  • We are satisfied our anonymity is guaranteed.”
• Approved the final draft of the “A.A. Service Manual,” a new revision of the “Third Legacy Manual,” with the understanding that minor editorial changes can still be made.
• [Added] to the Conference Charter:… Article 1… “…The Twelve Steps,” the sentence now to read: “…The [GSC] is the guardian of the world services, and of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.”
• Disapproved the proposal for a suggested change… for regional trustees which would increase the voting body to all delegates and eliminate the trustees from voting.

In 1975 , at the 25th Annual General Service Conference, held at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions

• A two-year moratorium (until 1977) be placed on discussion of special-purpose groups.
• A paragraph dealing with the problems of the use of mood-changing pills by A.A. members who hold group office should not be added to an appropriate A.A. pamphlet, because it was felt that this decision is up to local autonomy.
• Each delegate receive only the agenda pertinent to his or her committee, but may receive any others on request.

Today in A.A. History—April 21–27

In 1966 , at the 46th General Service Conference, held at the Crowne Plaza in New York City, the following were among the advisory actions:

• “Washington State East Area 92” and “Western Washington State Area 72” be approved as the new names for these areas.
• The [parts of the] title of the chart[s] on page[s] S23 [and S46] of The A.A. Service Manual be changed from “Struture of the Fellowship” to “The General Service Conference Structure (U.S. and Canada)” to more accurately describe what is depicted.

April 20 in A.A. History

In 1936, Frank Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group, was featured on the cover of Time magazine [right]. However, the accompanying article was not favorable. Near the end, it stated:

    Until a religion grows up, it is a cult. Buchmanism is about 20 years old, a mere infant in the range of religious history. It still rallies around one man and its methods are still highly unorthodox.

In 1941, Lois W. left for a six-week cruise to South America with Fan Williamson, a descendant of Albert V. Moore, who founded the shipping company Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. Fan invited Lois on this trip as a gesture of gratitude for helping her son, Chris, get sober while living with Bill and Lois at 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn. Lois described Fan as “kind and charming,” while  Bill affectionately referred to her as “Ironsides.” They had met Fan while staying in the Green Pond cottage that Chris had lent them during their two years of homelessness, which began in April 1939 and was just coming to an end. Notably, Fan and Lois were the only passengers on the ship [left: the USS Mermactide, a Moore-McCormack ship that sailed from New York City to South America and back around this time].
    Helen Griffith—no relation to Bill—had recently sold Bill and Lois a house in Bedford Hills, New York, on very generous terms, effective May 1st. Since that was also the departure date for Fan and Lois, Helen allowed them to move into the house early. They named the place “Bi-Lo’s Break.” Bill stayed there during Lois’s cruise, relying on the fireplace as his only source of heat. Unfortunately, he caught a “bad cold,” which would lead to a near disaster that Lois did not learn about until her return.

 

In 1970, as he did every April, Bill W. [right] addressed the assembled General Service Conference delegates and many guests at the opening dinner held at the Hotel New Yorker in New York City. Bob H., the General Manager of the General Service Office at the time, later recalled what happened:  

He started to speak, and of a sudden he just stopped, right in the middle of the sentence. And he just stood there for a little bit, and then said, “I’m sorry. I can’t continue.” And he went and sat down. Everybody was really taken aback at this, because if there was one thing Bill could always do, it was speak—eloquently and articulately and persuasively.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–22

In 1951, the first experimental General Service Conference (GSC) convened at the Hotel Commodore [left, c. 1940] in New York City, with 37 area delegates, 15 trus­tees, and 10 staff members from the Alcoholic Foundation Office and Grapevine. The Conference recognized that only half of the Areas were represented; as a result,

    Disposition of a number of problems was deferred until next year when representatives of the second panel will join the Conference.

Among the six advisory actions was this unanimously-approved one:

    [T]hat in future years A.A. textbook literature should have Conference approval.…

This was followed by a note:

    [This would not preclude the continued [printing of] documents by non-Foundation sources. No desire to review, edit or censor non-Foundation material is implied.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–24

In 1960, the 10th GSC convened at the Roosevelt Hotel [left, c. 1940] in New York City.
    The Board reported that A.A. Publishing, Inc. had been renamed A. A. World Services, Inc.
    “The Sense of the Meeting” report was titled “Need For Improved Internal and External Communications Was Dominant Theme.”
    Advisory actions included:

    that A. A World Services undertake a thorough study of the immediate and long-range needs for A. A. literature in languages other than English.

Today in A.A. History—April 20–26

In 1986, the 36th General Service Conference convened at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City.
    Three new Class A Trustees were elected to the Board, each bringing a record of service and experience in their fields: Dr. John Smith (public health), Amos Reed (corrections), and John King (social work) [right, respectively].
    Among the 81 Advisory Actions were:    

• the Grapevine produce a trial tape in Spanish and a trial tape in French…;
  
• a definitive book on A.A. history from 1955-1985 be prepared…;
  
• as the preface to the Big Book clearly states that the text was written in 1939 and that it has not been changed, no further explanation regarding out-of-date phrases and/or gender-oriented pronouns or chapter titles is necessary;
  
• a story of a gay alcoholic not be included in the Big Book.

April 19 in A.A. History

In 1939,  John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [right] received a copyright affidavit for Al­coholics Anonymous. Although he had been informed that this was an urgent matter and had received, by April 12, instructions along with the books and funds needed to file, he did not complete the filing until a week later. The instructions also specified that the book be registered to Works Publishing Company; however, he listed the owner as “Wm. G. W▓▓▓, trading as Works Publishing Co.” and the author as “Wm. G. W▓▓▓.”

In 1941, Dave W., Bob E., and Cal S. held the first A.A. meeting in Seattle, Washington, at the New Washington Hotel [left, c. 1910].

In 1941, an article about Alcoholics Anonymous by Lowel Lucas was published in the Jacksonville (Florida) Journal. Earlier that month, A.A. member Tom S. had visited the Journal and spoken with the city editor, informing him about the national A.A. movement and its local initiatives. This article was the result of that conversation. Lucas forwarded inquiries from the paper that arose from the article to Tom. The first responses came from Charlie P., Bruce H., and Hugh C.. As a result, the Central Group of A.A. was established, meeting at 2747 Riverside Ave. [right] in Jacksonville. All four founding members died sober.

 

In 1943, Florence R. K. died of pneumococcal meningitis.
    She got sober in New York City as Florence R. around March 1938 and remained sober until at least April 1939, when the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, was published; the name change of the publishing company from The One Hundred Men Corporation to Works Publishing, Inc. was due to her getting sober and joining A.A. She wrote “A Feminine Victory” for the first edition of that book. While writing her story, she prayed for inspiration to present it in a way that would encourage other women to seek the help she had received. Later that year, Florence moved to Washington, D.C., to assist Fitz M. (“Our Southern Friend”) in starting an A.A. group there.
    In a letter to Bill W. in 1939^*, Fitz wrote, “She is in love with a hellion 15 years younger than she who feeds her beer—so says her landlady.” She ended up marrying him but then she disappeared. Eventually, Fitz was called to a morgue to identify her body.

---

^* This letter is in the Washington [D.C.] Area Intergroup Association (WAIA) archives.

April 18 in A.A. History

Today in A.A. History—April 18–22

In 1956, at the 6th General Service Conference, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, the Conference…

    … unanimously approved of Bill’s new book [A.A. Comes of Age].

    The Conference also approved a motion…

    … asking that General Service Headquarters designate Thanksgiving Week each year as “A.A. Gratitude Week” and that this action be noted in the annual pre-Thanksgiving appeals to the groups for funds to help support worldwide services.

During the final session, Bill W. proposed consideration of four principles “that might someday permeate all of A.A.’s services,” namely “Petition, Appeal, Participation, and Decision”—foreshadowing Concepts III, IV, and V.

Today in A.A. History—April 18–23

In 1966, at the 16th General Service Conference, held at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City, the ratio of Class B [alcoholic] trustees to Class A [non-alcoholic] trustees was changed to give Class B trustees a super-majority of two-thirds, rather than the previous simple majority. For 11 years, Bill W. had pursued this change, debating it endlessly at ten consecutive General Service Conferences. In a 1958 letter to Class A Trustee Harrison M. Trice, Bill outlined four reasons why he believed A.A. needed a majority of alcoholic trustees:

1. the increased press of work with which A.A. has no business saddling the nonalcoholic members;…
2. the increasing importance of proper determination of the A.A. policy and its administration, which the nonalcoholics have, wrongly, I think, disclaimed all ability to handle;…
3. the need for wider representation geographically of alcoholic trustees; and…
4. it is unsound psychologically for a movement of the present size and maturity to take a childish and fearful view that a majority of alcoholics cannot be trusted to sit on our most important board…

In 1977, at the 27th General Service Conference, at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York City, the Conference approved Floor Action #3, which recommended that

    The publication of a facsimile of the first edition of the Big Book should not be undertaken, as it would destroy the sentimental value of the actual first edition.

Today in A.A. History—April 18–24

In 2021, the 71st General Service Conference was held online [right: Class A Trustee and A.A. Grapevine chair Michele Grinberg speaking from “the floor”]. With the COVID-19 pan­demic continuing into its second year, the Conference coordinators had time to prepare for the likelihood of an online format. Among the recommendations made during the Conference were:

• Change “men and women” in the Preamble to “people.”
• “A Fifth Edition of… Alcoholics Anonymous, be developed;…” “A Fourth Edition of… Alcohólicos Anónimos, be developed…”
• Revise Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions: on p. 117, replace “opposite sex” with “partner;” on p. 66, replace, “No one wants to be angry enough to murder, lustful enough to rape, gluttonous enough to ruin his health” with “No one wants to commit the deadly sins of anger, lust or gluttony.”
• On p. 12 of “Questions and Answers on Sponsorship,” change “… be of the same sex” to “… be avoided whenever a romantic entanglement might arise between sponsor and sponsee.”
• “A draft version of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous (Fourth Edition), be translated into plain and simple language…”
• Develop a process for polling the General Service Conference between annual meetings, enabling online discussion and debate, broader participation, and greater efficiency.
• Implement a three-year trial of “The Equitable Distribution of Workload Process… for the 72nd General Service Conference…”
• U.S./Canada General Service recognize online groups and encourage their participation, superseding a 1997 Advisory Action designating online groups as “International Correspondence Meetings.” Form a GSB committee to explore possibilities for participation of online groups in the U.S./Canada General Service structure.”
• Add guardianship of the Twelve Concepts to the Purpose statement of the Current Conference Charter, which already names the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions.

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.

---

^* 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?