The fundamentalist, former drunks who run AA (and the entire "industry" including Amethyst Foundation, Inc.), if they had functioning intellects, would quickly realize that the Twelve Steps are heresy. But, either by choice, or by past alcohol use, or genetics, or a combination thereof, they don't. I'll spell it out for them:
"I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me." 1st Commandment
In the Alcoholics Anonymous program, you can use anything for your "God" or "Higher Power". A.A. has lots of stories of people using a bedpan, a teacup, a doorknob, a stone, a teddy bear, a mountain, a motorcycle, or "Good Orderly Direction" for their "Higher Power". You can pray to any Golden Calf, stone idol, or Higher-Powered item of Household Hardware that you like. One of the more ridiculous word redefinitions that A.A. offers us is, you can make the word "G.O.D." mean "Group Of Drunks". The LADC I was mandated to see told me, therefore, that my atheism was no excuse not to like A.A.
A.A. founder Bill Wilson ("Bill W.") wrote:
"I must quickly assure you that A.A.'s tread innumerable paths in their quest for faith. ... You can, if you wish, make A.A. itself your 'higher power.' Here's a very large group who have solved their alcohol problem. In this respect they are certainly a power greater than you, who have not even come close to a solution. Surely you can have faith in them. Even this minimum of faith will be enough."
--Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William G. Wilson, page 27.
Given that most Christians believe in the holy trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost), I don't think many of them would think kindly to praying to a Group Of Drunks, or seeking and doing the will of a bunch of drunkards. Also, how would Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or Jews feel about being told this?
But then, that's assuming that people that go to A.A. think. They don't.
In addition, the Twelve Steps talk about "God as we understood Him". Members are allegedly free to define God however they imagine or understand "Him" to be. Bill Wilson told A.A. recruiters to
Stress the spiritual feature freely. If the man be agnostic or atheist, make it emphatic that he does not have to agree with your conception of God. He can choose any conception he likes, provided it makes sense to him. The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles.
--The Big Book, William G. Wilson, Chapter 7, Working With Others, page 93.
Obviously, this makes A.A. incompatible with atheism. Atheism is the non-belief in a higher power. But A.A. members just see an atheist's nonbelief as another fault (like his alcoholism in denial) that needs to be cured. God will cure the poor sap's atheism--he just needs to be dragged in to A.A. meetings.
How about making my higher power Satan? Or Hitler? Or Wotan, Thor, Loki, etc...? Some of the people I've meet at A.A. meetings are absolutely insane. They have truly drunk the cool-aid and are full-blown cult followers. I'm sure some of the things they understand god to be would get them committed if anyone looked at A.A. with any degree of scrutiny. (A.A., for some reason, likely ignorance, gets largely a free pass by society, despite it being a religious cult which is completely ineffective at treating alcoholism.)
Bill Wilson emphatically repeated that doctrine in the Big Book:
Despite the living example of my friend [a sober Ebby Thacher] there remained in me the vestiges of my old prejudice. The word God still aroused a certain antipathy. When the thought was expressed that there might be a God personal to me this feeling was intensified. I didn't like the idea. ..
My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said,"Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"
That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.
It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start from that point. Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what I saw in my friend. Would I have it? Of course I would!
Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. At long last I saw, I felt, I believed. Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view.
--Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson, Chapter 1, "Bill's Story", Page 12.
We were now at Step Three. Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: "God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!" We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.
--A.A. Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson, page 63.
Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstance.
--The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William G. Wilson, page 100.
You might be thinking that this is just "The Big Book" and A.A. doesn't really follow it strictly. You would be wrong in thinking so. You will very quickly learn that "The Big Book" is the absolute final authority and is never to be questioned! Bill W. is viewed as a near-God by these people. This, despite his well-documented abuse of his wife, infidelity, narcissism, and his utter failure at being sober (he cried out for whiskey on his deathbed).
The blind, cult-like obedience to the religion of A.A. extends beyond the meetings in church basements. In New Hampshire, the agencies entrusted with carrying out court-ordered Impaired Driver Intervention Programs (IDIPs), such as Amethyst Foundation, Inc., REAP, Inc., and Serenity House, Inc., are owned, operated, and staffed by A.A. members. Staff members spread the gospel of A.A. during IDIP classes, declare everyone an alcoholic (either admitted or in denial) and order mandatory A.A. attendance as part of the aftercare that virtually everyone is assigned. Also, as part of the "aftercare" is mandatory counseling sessions with Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselors, who happen to espouse...yes, that's right, the tenets of A.A.
In essence, the state of New Hampshire let A.A. infiltrate a significant component of the government. (And I haven't even mentioned A.A.'s role in New Hampshire's prisons, parole hearings, professional disciplinary proceedings, and others yet...I will later.) The entire recovery industry is reaping in huge (tax free) revenue while indoctrinating new member into their A.A. cult. It's a great scam, and I'm sure the smart ones at the top are laughing their way to the bank. The stupid ones being exploited merely think they are saving souls.
Here's one final secret about A.A. members: they lie. They lie because they believe they are saving souls and that they know better than you. I've caught people at A.A. meetings (and at Amethyst Foundation, Inc.) red-handed in the act of lying, with well-documented evidence, and they still shamelessly maintain they are right.
If you are at the mercy of these people and need your license back, you need to understand the personalities you are dealing with. These are people who think they are fault-less and perfect because god has revealed to them the truth. They take pity on you. With the power they have been entrusted by the state they will bend you to their will. Play dumb. Reveal no will, backbone, or free-thought. Lie, as they will lie to you. Escape their clutches, get your license back and flip them the bird in your rear view mirror as you drive away.
If there were a god, and the Ten Commandments, these people would surely be going to hell.
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