May 10 in A.A. History

In 1939, at the regular Wednesday night meeting of the Oxford Group in Akron, Ohio, Clarence S. [right] announced, as he later recounted:

    … that this was the last time the Cleveland [Ohio] bunch was down as a contingent—that we were starting a group in Cleveland that would only be open to alcoholics and their families. Also that we were taking the name from the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
    The roof came off the house. “Clarence, you can’t do this!” someone said.
    “It’s done.”
    “We’ve got to talk about his!”
    “It’s too late,” I said.…
    I made the mistake of telling these people the address.

    Newly sober Albert “Abby” G., [left] a patent attorney from Cleveland, was still in Akron City Hospital, but his wife, Grace, had offered their large home to host the new Cleveland meeting.

In 1946, Searcy W. [right] took his last drink and went on to accumulate 57 years of sobriety before his death on 30 Sep 2003.

In 1969, for Searcy W.’s 23rd anniversary, Bill Wilson gave him a signed copy of his paper promoting vitamin B-3 (niacin) therapy, inscribing it: “For Searcy W. May 10, 1969, Bill W.”

May 9 in A.A. History

In 1882, Silas B. was born in Millersburg, Kentucky, the youngest of three known children of Rev. James McClelland and Sarah Ann “Sallie” Burnam B. He became a journalist, sobered up as A.A. #3 (or 4) in New York City, and wrote an early story about Alcoholics Anonymous titled “There Is Hope” [below], published in the 19 Jan 1939, issue of The Hackettstown (NJ) Courier-Post. He would relapse within a year and died in 1945.

In 1944, at the invitation of Drs. Silkworth and Tiebout, Bill W. gave a talk to the Section on Neurology and Psychiatry at the annual meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York.

    In 1949, this talk, along with another presented to the American Psychiatric Association, was published as a pamphlet titled “Alcoholism the Illness.” Later, a third talk on alcoholism given by Bill to the New York City Medical Society in 1958 was included, and the pamphlet was retitled “Three Talks to Medical Societies by Bill W.” [left]. This pamphlet was “retired” by a General Service Conference Advisory Action in 2017, as the committee deemed the content “dated” and “not helpful for today’s communication about A.A.”

May 8 in A.A. History

In 1935, five hundred sober alcoholics gathered in Akron, Ohio, to celebrate the 8th anniversary^* of A.A.’s first group, which Bill W. referred to as “Akron Number One” and is now known as “King School Group #1.” After splitting from the Oxford Group in Dec 1939, the A.A. group initially met a few times at Dr. Bob S.’s home before relocating to the King School [right] in Jan 1940, where it remained for many years, possibly until the building closed in 2018.

---

^* The official founding date was 4 Jul 1935, the day Bill D., A.A. #3, was discharged from Akron City Hospital. 

 

In 1971, after a church memorial service [left: white-haired Lois, front right], Bill W. was buried [right: gravesite] in a private ceremony at East Dorset Cemetery in East Dorset, Vermont. Bill had always wanted to be buried there with his family, so his body was kept in cold storage in Miami, Florida, inside a Vermont oak casket until the New England ground thawed enough for the burial.

May 7 in A.A. History

In 1946, the Seafarers Log, the official organ of the Atlantic and Gulf Region of the Seafarers International Union of North America, published an article titled “AA Fights Alcoholism As Disease” [right]. This article references the Alcoholics Anonymous Seamen’s Club located at 334½ W. 24th St. in New York City, as well as their pamphlet “For Seamen Who Drink” and their newsletter “The Ropeyarn.”

 

In 1973, in an episode titled “Alcoholic Women,” David Susskind interviewed five women who were members of A.A. on his television program, The David Susskind Show[left: interviewing a Mafia hit man, 1973].

In 1994, the AA Flanders National Congress [far right: program cover] was held in Ypres, Belgium [near right: view of the Cloth hall and City hall at the Grote market of Ypres]. Here is a rough translation of the program cover:

MAY 7, 1994 / Start at 10:00 a.m. / DIET^* [of] ANONYMOUS ALCOHOLISTS / WESTHOEK - EXPO HALLS / YPRES / AA: “E”VERYTHING “E”LSE

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^* LANDDAG literally means country day or country assembly; a diet is a formal deliberative assembly.

May 6 in A.A. History

In 1896, Gilbert “Gib” K. was born in Germania, Wisconsin. He would found the first A.A. group in Milwaukee.

In 1939, Clarence S. [left], concerned about the challenges faced by Catholic alcoholics with the Oxford Group, approached Dr. Bob S. [right], his sponsor, regarding this issue (not for the first time).

Dr. Bob:	“What do you have in mind?”
Clarence:	“To start a group without all this rigmarole that’s offensive to other people. We have a book now, the Steps, the absolutes. Anyone can live by that program. We can start our own meetings.”
Dr. Bob:	(referring to OG members, especially to Henrietta Seiberling, and to T. Henry and Clarace Williams) “We can’t abandon these people. We owe our lives to them.”
Clarence:	“So what? I owe my life to them, too. But what about all these others?”, referring to Catholic A.A. members.
Dr. Bob:	“We can’t do anything about them.”
Clarence:	“Oh yes, we can.”
Dr. Bob:	“Like what?”
Clarence:	“You’ll see.”

Less than a week later, Clarence started the first group in Cleveland, Ohio, which is usually considered the third A.A. group anywhere. It was also the first group to adopt the name “Alcoholics Anonymous,” after the book published the previous month.

In 1941, in the Twin City of St. Paul, Minnesota, the first A.A. meeting was held in the home of Dr. Glenn Clark [left], a non-alcoholic professor at Macalester College. After reading Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post, Dr. Clark wanted to help a friend struggling with alcoholism. A local story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press published a few weeks later further boosted membership to 15, including the first woman.

May 5 in A.A. History

In 1940, Washington, D.C.’s The Sunday Star published Robert A. Erwin’s article [right], “Victims of Alcohol Hold Weekly Meetings to Aid One Another in Overcoming Weakness for Drink,” which favorably reported on the first A.A. group formed in the District of Columbia: the Washington Group.

    John Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left] was one of Bill W.’s successes at Charles B. Towns Hospital in 1935. Although he lived in Cumberstone, Maryland, he spent much of his early sobriety in New York City, making the long trip from home to attend A.A. meetings at Bill’s home in Brooklyn.

    In 1939, Fitz had moved to Washington, D.C., where he immediately contacted Hardin C., who had reached out to the Alcoholic Foun­dation in New York City, and whose information had been forwarded to Fitz. They began meeting at Hardin’s apartment and soon recruited Ned F., who had also gotten sober in New York City, a retired Navy Commander from  California, and others. Their first female member, Dorothy H., joined the following year. James “Jim” B. [right] of Philadelphia was a significant help to the D.C. members. He considered the weekly meetings at Philadelphia General Hospital essential to the success of the Philadelphia group and urged the D.C. group to work with alcoholics in the Psychopath Ward at Gallinger Municipal Hospital [left]. He also introduced the practice of serving coffee and doughnuts at meetings.

    The D.C. members revisited the discussion that had taken place in New York City between Jim and Fitz regarding the references to God in the Big Book, with Jim emphasizing the psychological approach and Fitz focusing on the religious aspect.
    The Sunday Star article attracted many new members, and by the end of the year, the group had reached 70 members.

May 4 in A.A. History

In 1940, the first A.A. group in Washington, D.C., held its inaugural meeting. Fitz M. [right] is traditionally recognized as the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Washington area. Along with Ned F., he brought the A.A. experience they had gained from the established New York City group to this region, helping alcoholics stay sober even before 1939. During that first year, their efforts, along with those of several other alcoholics, shaped the group into what it would ultimately become.

In 1946, Marty M. [left] “explained Alcoholics Anonymous and the work of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism [NCEA]” during Gabriel Heatter’s nationwide radio show, We the People. She was interviewed by Milo Boulton [right]. What follows are excerpts from the transcript:

MB:    The story of the young lady who is beside me now at our microphone, can be told in just seven words. I want her to repeat those seven words for you.
MM:    For ten years, I was an alcoholic.…
MB:    Mrs. M—–, it seems incredible that a young and beautiful woman like you should have once been an alcoholic.
MM:    Mr. Boulton, I still am an alcoholic.
MB:     But—I thought you'd been cured.
MM:    Oh, no. You must realize that alcoholism is a disease—a disease which today is as prevalent as tuberculosis or cancer. My illness has been arrested, and I think and hope it will stay that way, but people like me can never safely touch alcohol again, so we can never say we're cured.…
MB:    Well, then—I assume that Alcoholics Anonymous is responsible for your rehabilitation.
MM:    Indeed they are. They didn't lecture me, or look down on me, or make me sign a pledge. They did advise me to promise myself that I would not drink for 24 hours, and when the 24 hours were past, to make myself another promise. They taught me to live without alcohol.… We want the public to realize drunks shouldn't be jailed, but sent to hospitals--because a drunk is as sick as a man with a mortal disease. But he can, with proper treatment, become a useful citizen. I am proof of that. And I am devoting all my energies to aid those who are afflicted with this dread disease.

In 1983, Carlton Turner, director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office during President Ronald Reagan's administration, responded [left] to a letter from Raymond M., an A.A. member from Grandville, Michigan, which he had written six days earlier:

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 4, 1983

Dear Mr. Materson:
    Thank you for your letter of April 28, 1983 and for forwarding me a copy of your story "There's A Long-Distance Loneliness…"
    Many people have given a great deal of time and energy to helping others overcome the serious problems of alcohol and drug abuse. Thank you for all you have done and for sharing your most touching story.
    Please let us know if this office can be of any assistance. Best regards.

           Sincerely,
<signature>
Carlton E. Turner, Ph.D.
Special Assistant to the President
for Drug Abuse Policy

Mr. Raymond E. Materson
2741 Donna, s.w.
Grandville, MI 4941

In 1986, Ruth (Hock) Crecelius [right, holding the five millionth copy of A.A.’s Big Book], 74, died of cancer in Washington, Ohio.
    In July 1985, Ruth had attended the 50th anniversary International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Montreal, Quebec, with her daughter, Laurie. At this event, she received the 5,000,000th copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, the first edition of which she had transcribed from Bill W’s dictation.
    During this time, she began to feel unwell but convinced her family and friends that she was fine. Later that year, she sold the family home and retired from her job. In January, she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away four months later.
    From 1937 to 1942, Ruth served as Bill’s nonalcoholic secretary, answering thousands of letters inquiring about the new organization for alcoholics following the publication of Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post. Her numerous trips to assist fledgling groups earned her the title “Flying Ambassadress of AA.”

May 3 in A.A. History

In 1943, The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York, published an unattributed article [right] titled "Anonymous Group Holds First Dinner." It described the first annual A.A. dinner, held at the Hotel Seneca [left, c. 1940s] and attended by sixty people.

May 2 in A.A. History

In 1856, Matt Talbot [left: only known photo] was born in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1935, in the wake of Prohibition’s failure, Everett Colby [right] hosted a dinner in New York City to seek funding from the “drys” for his educational program promoting temperate drinking, called “The Council for Moderation.” In his book Alcoholics Anonymous and the Rockefeller Connection, Jay D. Moore says,

    The dinner was… educa­tional in nature, luminaries made presentations… and the invitees included a who’s who of American power… In fact, perusing the list of those who attended the dinner one finds many of the names that at­tended the dinner for Alcoholics Anonymous.

    According to Moore, the refusal of John D. Rockefeller, Jr [left] to fund this project, proposed by his college roommate at Brown University, illustrates…

    that his self-imposed philanthropic limits were invio­late… The Colby dinner draws a parallel to the 1940 AA Rockefeller dinner that cannot be brushed off. The similarities are unmistakable…

In 1943, in New Orleans, Louisiana, The Times-Picayune reported that the first A.A. group in the city was being formed:

    Organization of a New Orleans chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous [is] underway with a nucleus of more than a dozen members, part of a unique group of more than 8000 men and women in the United States that have banded together to fight the disease of alcoholism.

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?