Christian AA? Here’s Why Not.
Christian Alcoholics Anonymous is something many people have serious and sincere questions about. Often people who have only the most general knowledge of Alcoholics Anonymous, what it does and what it believes.
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Alcoholics Anonymous in its own preamble read before nearly every Alcoholic Anonymous meeting declares quite emphatically that “AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, organization, politics neither endorses nor opposes any cause.”
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It is extremely difficult to imagine how Alcoholics Anonymous could be a Christian Fellowship and remain true to its own preamble. On the other hand many in AA are Christians and not a few at that.
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There are other organizations which have adopted the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous finding sound biblical basis for each step and offer a program of recovery based upon scriptural principles.
Two of these organizations that have a record of success are Alcoholics Victorious and Celebrate Recovery.
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Since AA is not opposed to any organization and does not consider that it has a monopoly upon recovery from alcoholism, such organizations are applauded and encouraged. They are not however Christian Alcoholics Anonymous nor should they ever claim to be such.
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Alcoholics Anonymous was founded upon Biblical principles which Dr. Bob and Bill W. Learned from the Oxford groups, a Christian renewal organization quite popular at the inception of AA.
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Bill Wilson without Dr. Bob’s consent (Dr Bob was not at the meeting when the decision was made) decided that Alcoholics Anonymous should be a secular organization, not only separate and distinct from the Oxford Groups, which had given them their start but separate and distinct from any formal religious organization.
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This was an attempt to reach as many alcoholics as possible, since to demand any particular religious affiliation whether Catholic, Episcopalian or any denomination at all would have been a hurdle many alcoholics would have been unwilling to attempt.
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What we have in common is our common problem with alcohol, not any form of religious definitions.
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This does not as I stated earlier preclude anyone from pursuing the religion of their choice. In my case I am a dedicated Christian. I have committed my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I do not
however use Alcoholics Anonymous meetings as an opportunity to convert people to my way of living.
I am convince that I not only may take every opportunity presented outside of meetings to express my faith. In fact I not only believe I may I believe I must.
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I do hope that my success at sobriety and my example may encourage my brothers and sisters in AA to investigate Christianity in more depth.
Congratulations on an unusually well-framed article. A couple of points should be made, however. A.A. is not a Christian organization. That ended when Bill published the Big Book in 1939. Alcoholics Anonymous most assuredly was a Christian organization when it was founded in 1935. And it didn’t get that way because of the Oxford Group. A.A. sprang from the highly successful Christian work in the 1800′s by evangelists like Dwight Moody, Gospel Rescue Missions, Salvation Army, YMCA lay workers, and Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. And see http://www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml. These organizations had great success converting and healing alcoholics long before there was an Oxford Group and long long before there was an A.A. Moreover, both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had a Christian upbringing in Vermont where they and their families attended Congregational church and Sunday school. They attended academies where daily chapel, weekly church attendance, and Bible study were required. Both were involved in or influenced by the YMCA – of which Dr. Bob’s father was President in St. Johnsbury, and Wilson was president at Burr and Burton Academy. Both saw the conversions, revivals, and union meetings of Vermont. And each, when he finally turned to God for help, did so at a scene which was based on conversion and prayer – in Bill’s case at a rescue mission. Then, when the two founded A.A., they established a Christian Fellowship in Akron where belief in God, acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior, Bible study, prayer meetings, reading of Christian literature and devotionals was daily, and Quiet Time was a requirement–Quiet Time having come into being in the YMCA and Christian Endeavor movement long before the founding of either the Oxford Group or A.A. Dr. Bob said the basic ideas of A.A. came from the study and effort in the Bible – particularly Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13. Though Bill attended the OG and was active in it in the East, he left it in 1937. Akron was so far removed from the Oxford Group in principle and practice that it was called a “clandestine” lodge of the Oxford Group – meaning it wasn’t!
When Wilson published his Big Book in 1939, he drew on all sorts of sources – Bible, Dr. William Silkworth, conversion, Dr. Carl Jung, Professor William James, the five New England sources of his youth, the journal kept by Dr. Bob’s wife Anne Smith, Oxford Group ideas he had learned, the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, some language from New Thought writers often influenced by spiritualism and Swedenborgian ideas, a lay therapist who died drunk, and Quiet Time as well. He maintained references to the Bible, to God, and to Christian language and ideas in Jesus’ Sermon, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians. And he dumped some 400 pages of Christian and Bible materials from the manuscript before it went to press in 1939. He also agreed to strike “God” from Steps Two, Three, and Eleven. But he maintained explicit references, in one form or another, to God over 400 times in the Big Book itself. In short, A.A. changed. Bill became deeply depressed. All sorts of “higher power” ideas began creeping in – light bulbs, chairs, radiators. But Dr. Bob never budged from his emphasis on the Bible and prayer. Never up to the date of his death and was, at that time, a communicant at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron. So what’s the bottom line? As the writer says, there are Christians — many many Christians in A.A. today. And there are an equal if not greater number of those who are atheists, agnostics, humanists, Jews, Roman Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus, and of no belief or religious affiliation at all. The point today is that IN A.A. Christians can and should learn, and are finally learning there Christian roots and standing tall on their Christian principles, practices, worship, fellowship, and witnessing while joining fully in both the fellowship and the 12 Step program of A.A. and other such fellowships. They are often bewildered by the contradictions, but they do not take flight from A.A. Perhaps like the writer above, they are tolerant, thankful, service-oriented, and desirous of helping other drunks get sober – often by informing the newcomer of A.A.’s religious and Christian origins and their ability to believe in and worship God – the God and Creator they learn about in the Bible. For documentation and detail, see The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010 http://www.dickb.com/Christian-Recov-Guide.shtml.
I agree entirely with Dick B. Alcoholics Anonymous had it’s roots deeply embedded in Christianity. however as I tried to make clear above [Bill Wilson with Dr. Bob’s consent decided that Alcoholics Anonymous should be a secular organization] *
I am flattered to receive any comment from (in my opinion) the leading AA historian of our day.
Thanks Dick
* Edited 54/25/11 See page
Myke: It would be hard, if not impossible, to say that Dr. Bob “consented” to the “God as we understood Him” and “Power greater than ourselves” insertions in the Big Book manuscript just prior to its going to press.He was not present when the four people made the change. We have the “printer’s” manuscript where the changes were made; and it is clear that an attempt was made to change “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down” to “Your faith will never let you down.” Dr. Bob refused to allow that change. Pamphlet P-53 contains the last major address by Dr. Bob in 1948, where he said, “I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with writing them” And he goes on to say the basic ideas came from their study and effort in the Bible.” Just prior to that, Dr. Bob said that the early AAs believed the answers to their problems were in the Bible. And he specified the Book of James, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 as “absolutely essential.” One needs to review the four AA of Akron pamphlets commissioned by Dr. Bob and which are a far cry from “secular.”
In other words, I have made two points over and over. The Akron A.A. program–a Christian Fellowship–was not at all the same as Bill’s Big Book program established four years later. I have four eye witness statements by Akronites showing that Akron continued to require decisions for Jesus Christ as a condition to “membership.” However, one has to recognize the storms of doubt that assailed. Sister Ignatia was helping Dr. Bob at St. Thomas Hospital. Roman Catholics flooded in. Jews joined. So did a few atheists.
What is the answer? I think you stated it well. There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Christians in A.A. and even other 12-Step fellowships today. A.A. won’t become Christian–never! And the Christians in A.A. are baffled by the “New Age,” “New Thought,” “higher power,” “not-god-ness,” and phony “spirituality” that are apparent in the fellowship and other later literature.
Since I entered A.A. a little over 25 years ago, dived into A.A., and became more and more a Christian who walked by the Spirit, I have to say that the 24/7 support, service, and availability of A.A. came to my life at its lowest ebb. And at a time of my greatest need. And I have not seen anything in the last 25 years that could have met my needs and challenged my Christian love more than A.A. did. Certainly neither my church, nor even my Bible fellowship.
I think it is fair to encourage those who seek God’s help to do so whether they do it in A.A., N.A., Celebrate Recovery, Alcoholics Victorious, Overcomers Outreach, Teen Challenge, counseling, treatment, or with a clergyman. Severe alcoholism and drug addiction pose life and death threats. And “thorough,” “going to any lengths,” full-time commitment worked in 1935 and will work today with God’s help. But I would not turn my back on a nurse, a Red Cross worker, a Salvation Army helper, or an atheist soldier if I were dying in battle. I would do what I did as I found my mind returning in A.A. I would tell them I was going to seek God’s help and also tell them they could go whistle at the breeze if they couldn’t provide nursing, Red Cross, Salvation Army, or secular help just because I loved God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
By the way, thanks again for this venue, for your strong position, and for your gracious acknowledgement. I believe the big battle today is to convince Christians IN A.A. that they have roots and a proper place. See International Christian Recovery Coalition http://www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com and my books The James Club and the Original A.A. Program’s Absolute Essentials http://www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml and The Golden Text of A.A. http://www.dickb.com/goldentext.shtml.
In His Service, Dick B.
http://www.dickb.com
Thanks a lot Dick, I have edited my error in this article. I am sure more will be forth coming as more is revealed.
I dislike quarreling. I once thought at best you were engaging in a fruitless debate. Or worse yet a useless quarrel.
I now know that the truth stated clearly yet kindly, is far to vital to be silenced by those who will quarrel.
If we are silenced. Such people will still quarrel. It is what they do.
Truth isn’t always pleasant. It certainly is often not what I wanted to hear. Still Truth simply is. It needs to be told. Truth is always its own best defense.
Thanks for your continued, temperate, reasoned comments. I believe I should mention the enormous and continuing growth of the International Christian Recovery Coalition. In colloquial terms, it is “AA friendly, Bible friendly, History friendly,and Recovery friendly.” It stresses the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible have played and can play in recovery today. Almost all of the growing number of participants in the coalition are recovered former alcoholics and certainly Christians. They have long-term sobriety. They don’t want to castigate A.A. or Twelve Step Fellowships. They recognize how much support they received in A.A. in their dismal, seemingly hopeless early days – days when clergy and church and Christian fellowships were not seen as welcome alternatives to A.A. Today, the scene is changing. These folks are almost universally rejecting the A.A. “wisdom of the rooms” which dotes on godless “higher powers,” New Age spirituality, idolatry, and worship of the creature rather than the Creator. That is not A.A. as most of us knew it and experienced it. Nor as we participate in it today. We focus on helping others by glorifying and serving God. And we cherish the 24/7 help one can almost always get on request when the dark days plunge him into despair, hopelessness, fear, anxiety, and sometimes return to drink. It is God’s ever-present availability that we emphasize. In early A.A. days, He was sought diligently, believed in completely, and accessed through His Son Jesus Christ. The standard for truth was in the Bible. And none of these factors has changed. You can be a fine, devoted child of the one true living God; find what help is available in A.A.; and place your trust in the care, love, forgiveness, healing, and deliverance of Almighty God. I did. We do. And “It works!” Dick B., Executive Director, International Christian Recovery Coalition.