Spiritual or Religious? - The A.A. Debate
Alcoholics Anonymous, the original 12-step program, is commonly misconceived as being a religious organization. New members, many agnostic if not self-professed atheistic, often stumble on the roadblock of the word "God", commonly used by AA members instead of the term, "Higher Power", employed by A.A. literature.
Alcoholics Anonymous defines alcoholism as a three-fold disease of physical addiction, mental/emotional obsession, and spiritual deprivation. The Twelve Steps of A.A. were never intended as a statement of belief. An enlargement of the tenets of the Oxford Group, they simply describe what the original 100 members of A.A. did to achieve and maintain sobriety.
These Twelve Steps contain no new ideas; they mirror concepts found in worldwide spiritual movements evolving over centuries of reflective thought. They present to the suffering alcoholic a plan of action designed to implement the ideas of surrender, self-inventory, confession, prayer and meditation and, finally, working with others to combat self-centeredness. These ideas are generally met with defiance by sick and frightened individuals who are determined not to be told what to do, think, or believe.
A.A. members, with typical tongue-in-cheek irreverence, often refer to their organization as the "last house on the block". Many arrive in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous completely destitute. Others, referred to as "high bottom", have retained the economic manifestations of success but are emotionally defeated.
Many feel abandoned by the religion of their childhood; others have questioned and jettisoned any spiritual beliefs they may have possessed. Practically all of them feel that their drinking is simply in need of "control". They further feel that they are victims of bad luck, an unfeeling society, the wrong choice of career, spouse, or any combination of life situations.
While Alcoholics Anonymous began as a white, middle-class, almost exclusively male and primarily Christian group, the founding members represented a full spectrum of opinion and belief. They held conservative, liberal, and radical viewpoints.
The writing of the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous", from which the movement eventually took its name, was a hotly-contested project. Preferences ran the gauntlet from a Christian-based work through a theological thesis to an agnostic psychological approach. The final - and perhaps only - solution was to compromise. It was in this compromise that the very essence of Alcoholics Anonymous was created.
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous refer to God as a "Power greater than ourselves" or "God as we understood Him". The Steps were introduced as ". . the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery". The Twelve Steps were and remain suggestions only.
Since the writing of "Alcoholics Anonymous" in 1939, these compromises have made it possible for alcoholics of all faiths (and alcoholics with an aversion to any faith) to find and maintain lasting sobriety.
Despite the emphasis on "suggestion", the phrase "spiritual awakening" often heard in A.A. is another stumbling block for newcomers. For some it evokes an image of revival tent rhetoric, for others it seems an impossible pie-in-the-sky fantasy. However, for those alcoholics who persevere in sobriety, they almost invariably arrive at a realization that - without completely understanding how, when or why - they have experienced a spiritual change.
This has been called a "gift amounting to a new state of consciousness", a "transformation", a "source of strength hitherto self-denied". With typical A.A. irreverence, many members feel that, "We are all miracles."