October 6 in A.A. History

	In 1937, Paul [left] and Hildreth S. wrote to Bill and Lois W. [right, mid-to late1930s] about their upcoming visit to Akron, Ohio, on October 10. The letter said, in part:

Dr. S—— just told me that we are to expect a visit from you over the week-end, and that two other couples, the P–―s and the R–―—s, are coming with you. Needless to say, we are looking forward to this visit with a great deal of anticipation and pleasure, as are all the folks with whom we spend so much time…
    We have made arrangements for a little dinner party at our house on Sunday. There may be a few of us who will be tied up in a little meeting for an hour or so. Then we are planning on having an evening session at T. Henry [Williams]’s house after that.
    We hope we are not laying out a program that would seem to be too strenuous for you, but we feel certain that you will be amply repaid for the inconvenience that such a trip may cause by the pleasure that you will afford us by your coming.

In 1941, a dinner honoring Dr. Bob Smith [left], attended by 900 guests, was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1944, the first A.A. meeting in Maine took place at Chan R.’s house in Cape Elizabeth [right: U.S.S. Constitution passes Portland Head Lighthouse in Port Elizabeth on 23 July 1931], attended by Chan, Jim M., Clint W., and one other person. Chan had become sober in Florida A.A. before relocating to Cape Elizabeth. Clint had written to the New York A.A. office for help; they referred him to Chan. Meanwhile, Jim M. from Newport, Maine, had attempted a geographic cure by moving in with his sister in Brooklyn, New York, but his drinking only worsened. In desperation, he contacted Kings County Hospital in 1942, and they directed him to A.A. He attended meetings in New York City for two years before returning to Newport in 1944.

October 5 in A.A. History

In 1943, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News published an interview with Jack Alexander titled “Writer Whose Saturday Evening Post Article First Made ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ Known Tells Daily News of Early Skepticism” [right]. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

    “Four AA’s called to see me one afternoon,” he said. “They were well dressed and seemed affluent—apparently men of affairs. And as they sat drinking Coca-Cola, which was all they seemed to want, they talked smoothly of their own experiences.
    “Was I convinced? Far from it. My skepticism only grew. I remember thinking: ‘They could be Broadway actors from some casting bureau.’
    “I had talks with a man I will call Bill—a disarming guy, who, as I once wrote, knew the folklore of alcoholism. And, with him, I attended two meetings of an AA group in downtown New York—West 22nd Street, I believe. Here, anyway, were men it was easy to recognize as genuine alcoholics. And I learned that once a week they were bringing from a certain asylum for the insane some supposedly helpless inmates—sufferers from ‘wet brain’—and working on them. I learned, too, from asylum officials, that some were being cured.
    “Well, I was impressed—quite deeply impressed—but the skepticism remained. I didn’t want the Post victimized, intentionally or through a mistaken crusading spirit. And yet, and yet—
    “Was I being unjust? Was I trying to shut my eyes to something and big and vital and needed by suffering humanity? I decided to investigate in other cities.
    “I first drove to Philadelphia, where two AAs took me to the psychopathic ward of the Philadelphia General Hospital. I saw how the AAs worked upon the alcoholic patients, some of them shaken from tremendous ‘binges.’ When they got out, I was told, they would be taken to a general meeting, and it would be the start of their cooperative cure.
    “Deeply interested by this time, I next went to Akron, where the movement had started. And it was in this Ohio city, I believe, that I at last became convinced. Here I paid hospital visits, attended meetings, heard testimonials. I began to see that it all fell into a general pattern, whatever the community.
    “Followed, then, a visit to Cleveland, where the movement was growing like a snowball rolling down hill; and to Chicago, where my conversion was complete. For here I met a man who had been assistant city editor of a daily paper at a time when I was supposed to be the star reporter. He was a city editor now and getting along well. Yes, he had been an alcoholic: and he told me how he had walked through the shadows. We talked the same language and it was a language that didn’t lie.
    “The climax for me came in St. Louis, which is my home town. Here, in A. A. group meetings, I met old friends—school chums, some of them, Even I hadn’t guessed they were alcoholics, What they told me was convincing: I was sold, if ever a man was sold.”

In 1988, Lois Burnham W. [left], 97, Bill’s widow, died peacefully at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York, near Stepping Stones, her home in Bedford Hills. She made significant contributions to Alcoholics Anonymous and was a founder of Al-Anon Family Groups. Michael Alexander, former Class A trustee and chairman of the General Service Board of Alcoholics said, “Many A.A.s today feel their lives are owed to Lois as well as Bill, Dr. Bob and Anne S—–.”

Today in A.A. History—October 5–7

In 1972, the 2nd World Service Meeting (WSM) took place at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. The theme was “Our Primary Purpose.” The meeting was attended by twenty-nine delegates from sixteen countries listed below, from across five continents, and included trustees and staff from the US/Canada General Service Office (GSO) and the A.A. Grapevine office:

Australia	Belgium	Canada	Columbia	Costa Rica
England	Finland	France	Germany	Guatemala
Holland	Ireland*	Mexico	New Zealand	Nicaragua*†
Norway	South Africa	Sweden	United States	England
*First-time attendees; struck-out = countries not returning; †represented Central America, including Costa Rica and Guatemala.

    Discussion topics included anonymity, the A.A. Grapevine, professional relations, publishing and literature policies, finance, and the service structures of the fifteen General Service Offices represented. For the first time, the delegates also addressed the internal organization and procedures of the WSM; their recommendations have been followed ever since, with certain amendments. However, the agenda items of greatest interest were likely the location and timing of the next World Service Meeting—if there was to be one—as well as financing and voting procedures.

In 1978, the 5th World Service Meeting (WSM) took place at the Hanasaari^* Hotel on Hanasaari Island [right], in Espoo, Finland, near Helsinki. The theme was “Recovery, Unity, Service—Worldwide.” The countries represented were:

Australia	Belgium	Brazil	Canada	Colombia
El Salvador	Finland	French Europe†	Guatemala	Honduras
Ireland	Mexico	New Zealand	Nicaragua	Norway
South Africa	Sweden	United Kingdom	United States	West Germany
†Delegates from Belgium and France represented all of French-speaking Europe.

    A proposal for an Asia-Oceania Service Meeting (AOSM) was introduced by Bob P. from New Zealand, who initially conceived the idea. This marked the beginning of discussions that ultimately led to the first AOSM meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in 1995.

---

^*Hanaholmen in Swedish, literally meaning “rooster-hen.”

October 4 in A.A. History

	In 1943, John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left], 46, died of cancer. He would be buried [right: headstone] on the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church in Owensville, Maryland, where his father had been pastor. He had been one of Bill W.’s first two sponsees in New York City and, when he had died, he was eight years sober.

     Fitz had run away from school to join the Army in World War I, registering for the draft on 24 August 1918, but the Armistice was signed the day he arrived in Atlanta to enlist. He had registered for the draft for World War II on 16 February 1942, and reported for military service on 12 September 1942. Shortly thereafter, he had been diagnosed with cancer, dying less than a month later. When Fitz’s good friend Jimmy B. died in 1974, he was buried in the same cemetery, a few feet away.
    Fitz’s story, “Our Southern Friend,” appears in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

October 3 in A.A. History

In 1945, Bill W. wrote a letter to the secretaries of more than 600 groups, announcing that the A.A. Grapevine had been adopted as the national periodical of Alcoholics Anonymous [right: announcement in the November 1945 issue of the A.A. Grapevine].

In 1973, M’Cready “James” H. [left], 82, died in Los Gatos, California. He had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1940.
    He had worked as a teacher, a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, editor of the South Bend (Indiana) Times, contributor to humor magazines, and author of many short stories and at least thirteen books: Huling’s Quest (1925), The Big Show (1927), Dear Senator (1928), The King of Spain’s Daughter (1930), Salesman from the Sidelines (1932), The Family Meal Ticket (1933), Solid Citizen (1933), The Right People (1949), The Prodigal Brother (1952), Saving Grace (1954), The Gates of Brass (1956), The Clouded Fountain (1959), and The Platinum Yoke (1963).

In 2021, the first episode of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc. podcast, The Half-Hour Variety Hour, was released [right: 1st podcast as it appeared on the A.A. Grapevine website]. 

    The hosts, long-time A.A. members Don and Sam, introduced themselves to the listeners. Their guest was Michael M. from New York, whose story “We Showed Them” had been featured in the October 2021 issue of the A.A. Grapevine. For the previous four years, they had anonymously produced their own bi-weekly podcast about sobriety in A.A., called The Boiled Owl Coffee Club AA Recovery Podcast, from what they referred to as “The Boiled Owl Coffee Club” [left: former home page of their podcast]. This was a virtual location, as Don was in North Carolina and Sam was in California.

October 2 in A.A. History

	In 1944, the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), founded by Margaret “Marty” M. [left], opened a tiny office in the New York Academy of Medicine building [right] on E. 103rd Street in New York City. For the next four years, the office was staffed by Marty and a secretary. The budget for the the first year was $13,000 [~$239,300 in 2025].

    In 1950, the NCEA was renamed the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA), and in 1990, it became the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).

	In 1958, CBS-TV aired a live production of “Days of Wine and Roses” on Playhouse 90 (season 3, episode 3). It starred Cliff Robertson [near left] as Joe Clay; Piper Laurie [middle left] as Joe’s wife Kirsten Arneson Clay; and Charles Bickford [far right] as Kirsten’s as Kirsten’s father, Ellis Arnesen. Alcoholics Anonymous cooperated in its making, as well as in that of the later movie version [right: scene from near the end of the Playhouse 90 production]. The story centers on Joe’s testimony at an A.A. meeting. It ends with Joe in recovery, while Kirsten continues to drink, abandoning Joe and their daughter.

October 1 in A.A. History

In 1941, local news organizations reported the establishment of the first Alcoholics Anonymous group in New Haven, Connecticut [right, c. 1944], which had actually formed 6½ months earlier, on March 15th.

In 2022, William “Bill” B. [left: with Lois W. near the end of her life], 89, died at his home in Stratford, Connecticut. He had been sober since 8 April 1962, and was a close friend of Lois W., Bill W’s wife, for the last 16 years of her life. 
    Bill began his career at the New York Journal-American newspaper and went on to work for several newspapers and magazines, as well as creating syndicated radio shows. In 1969, he founded Borchert-Barrett Associates, a public relations firm in New York City. Three years later, he became a partner in Artists Entertainment Complex, an independent film and talent management company that produced films such as Kansas City Bomber (1972), Serpico (1973), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
    In the community of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill is best known as the screenwriter and author of the film My Name is Bill W. (1989), based on the true story of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W.; he was nominated for an Emmy for this work. He later wrote a book about Lois, titled The Lois W―― Story: When Love Is Not Enough (2005). A CBS-Hallmark TV movie of the same name, based on his book, was released in 2010.
    Bill’s other books include 50 Quiet Miracles That Changed Lives (2009); 1,000 Years of Sobriety: 20 People x 50 Years, co-authored with Michael F., which tells the stories of twenty Alcoholics Anonymous pioneers from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (2010); When Two Loves Collide: The Inspiring Story of Dr. John and Dot Mooney (2013); and How I Became My Father … a Drunk (2015).
    Bill was a member of The Writers Guild of America and a long-time volunteer at Stepping Stones Foundation, the former home of Bill and Lois in Katonah, New York. He also served on the Board of Directors of Stepping Stones Foundation from 1997 to 2006.

September 30 in A.A. History

In 1939, Liberty magazine [near right: cover] published “Alcoholics and God” by Morris Markey [far right]. Bill W. thought the article “a bit lurid” and worried that the title would scare off alcoholics. The article generated “800 frantic inquiries,” all of which were answered by Ruth Hock. While letters arrived from across the U.S., only a few could be directed to the three existing groups in Akron, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; and New York City.

		Charles B. Towns [far left], proprietor of Towns Hospital, had encouraged Markey to write the piece. Liberty editor Fulton Oursler [near left], the author of The Greatest Story Ever Told, became a close friend of Bill and later served as a Class A [non-alcoholic] Trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation, A.A.’s headquarters (as it was then called) in New York City. He also became a member of the A.A. Grapevine editorial board.

In 1955, the Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Headquarters in New York City distributed a 6-page flyer titled “The Structure and Services of A.A.” [right: front cover], written by Frank B. It included the first service structure diagram and summaries of A.A.’s five service agencies:
    (1) General Service Board of A.A., Inc.;
    (2) General Service Headquarters;
    (3) A.A. Publishing, Inc.
    (4) The General Service Conference; and
    (5) The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.

    The description of A.A. Publishing, Inc. states:

    The General Service Board, with the approval of the General Service Conference, has also granted to Bill [W.], as the surviving co-founder of the movement, a 15% royalty on sales of the A.A. book. These royalties represent Bill’s only income from A.A. sources.

    The back cover [left] listed the Twelve Traditions in short form, as published in the November 1949 A.A. Grapevine.

	In 1975, Bill W.: The Absorbing And Deeply Moving Life Story Of Bill Wilson, Co-Founder Of Alcoholics Anonymous [left: 1st edition cover], written by Robert Thomsen [right], was published by Hazelden Publishing.

	In 2003, Searcy W. [left], 93, died in Dallas, Texas, with 20,962 days (57 years, 4 months, 20 days) of sobriety.     In 1949, Searcy began establishing treatment clinics in Dallas [right: where Ebby T. sobered up], Houston, Lubbock (all in Texas) and Carlsbad, New Mexico. Alcoholics came for a week and paid $125, all-inclusive. Then they went to A.A., and 75% stayed sober.

    Searcy’s motto was, “Trust God, clean house, help others. And it doesn’t have to be done in that order!”

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.