my experience indicates that this is inaccurate. 12 Step fellowships are not religious. Yes, there are many who have religion that attend these groups but the fellowships themselves don't care if you belong to any particular theological belief system.
I attend meetings regularly and I hate religion (all religions) and there are many, many just like myself in the rooms.
I do not attend AA (I go to another 12 Step Fellowship) because of the fact that they do say The Lord's Prayer. This group action doesn't align with the Traditions that they are meant to follow. That being said, I know many who attend AA that are of diverse religious beliefs and backgrounds. Many also do not believe in the concept of a supreme deity. The Program works just the same for all of these diverse individuals.
Just my experience...
I feel like I'm the only person there who is doing so out of extrinsic motivation.
I am a very logical thinker and tend to look at everything from a scientific angle. This, of course, caused me to struggle a lot with the word "God". Luckily for me the 12 step treatment centre I went to was run by an atheist, and we had a workshop on "The atheists guide to the steps". I do not see myself as an atheist, more an agnostic, but this workship helped to smash my false belief that it was a religious program, the final excuse I had.
You don't have to be religious to work the 12 steps outlined in the various fellowships. Here are the converted 12 steps, and I will ask if I can upload the whole powerpoint presentation:
12 Steps (minus God)
1. We admitted we had a problem, that our lives were a mess
2. We realised we needed/could get help
3. We asked for help
4. We wrote a detailed description of ourselves, both positive and negative
5. We told someone else what we were like
6. We recognised personality traits that caused us pain
7. We asked other people how they changed
8. We made a list of people we had harmed
9. We made amends to these people always remembering to look after them and ourselves
10. We continued to look at our behaviour
11. We looked at ways we could improve our relationships with people, places, etc
12. We woke up, tried to help others and did our best
Hope this may potentially help someone.
Wilson and Smith sought to develop a simple program to help even the worst alcoholics, along with a more successful approach that empathized with alcoholics yet convinced them of their hopelessness and powerlessness. They believed active alcoholics were in a state of insanity rather than a state of sin, an idea they developed independently of the Oxford Group.
He wrote the Twelve Steps one night while lying in bed, which he felt was the best place to think. He prayed for guidance prior to writing, and in reviewing what he had written and numbering the new steps, he found they added up to twelve. He then thought of the Twelve Apostles and became convinced that the program should have twelve steps. With contributions from other group members, including atheists who reined in religious content (such as Oxford material) that could later result in controversy, by fall 1938 Wilson expanded the six steps into the final version of the Twelve Steps, which are detailed in Chapter Five of the Big Book, called "How It Works."
FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE PLEASE TAKE THE COTTON OUT OF YOUR EARS AND STICK IT IN YOUR MOUTH, IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE ONE DAY
Ive attended my last NA meeting: not because I've become clean (quite the opposite ) but because I can't stand to hear any more bullshit about god and higher power.
It's mainly the hippocrisy surrounding th ewhole concept that makes me what to be sick: everyone vows that as addicts we can accept God/ our higher power in the best way we understand him but inr eality we all seems to be subtley pressured to accept him as some old bloke in the sky who we can just turn all our problems over to, who'll make us clean and essentially be an agent for change which is diametrically opposed to alll the other 99% of dogma (WHICH IS WHAT IT FUCKING IS) which is thrust upon the shoulders of the addict who walks into his/her first NA meeting.
I thought assuming complete responsibility for what a fuck-up you are when the drugs are removed was one of the central tenets of NA? And how can you do that if you just turn all your shit over to God, pray for him to cleanse you off your faults/sins and then move on?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
We come from various walks of life and experience, so it is natural that we bring with us differing concepts of spirituality. In NA, no one is forced to believe any set ideas. Each one of us can believe in anything in which we want to believe. This is a spiritual program, not a religion. Individually, we cultivate our own beliefs about a Power
greater than we are. No matter what we understand this Power to be, help is available to us all.
I thought assuming complete responsibility for what a fuck-up you are when the drugs are removed was one of the central tenets of NA?
Ive attended my last NA meeting: not because I've become clean (quite the opposite ) but because I can't stand to hear any more bullshit about god and higher power.
It's mainly the hippocrisy surrounding th ewhole concept that makes me what to be sick: everyone vows that as addicts we can accept God/ our higher power in the best way we understand him but inr eality we all seems to be subtley pressured to accept him as some old bloke in the sky who we can just turn all our problems over to, who'll make us clean and essentially be an agent for change which is diametrically opposed to alll the other 99% of dogma (WHICH IS WHAT IT FUCKING IS) which is thrust upon the shoulders of the addict who walks into his/her first NA meeting.
I thought assuming complete responsibility for what a fuck-up you are when the drugs are removed was one of the central tenets of NA? And how can you do that if you just turn all your shit over to God, pray for him to cleanse you off your faults/sins and then move on?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
A power greater than myself (and there are many such powers) is simple. Two individuals are greater than one. The group, as presented in the form of a 12 Step meeting, is significantly greater than I am and I gain much from the power of the group. Some examples are: the opportunity to practice patience, tolerance, empathy, willingness, courage, open-mindedness, service to others etc/ experience and practical suggestions from those who have been through what I am currently going through/ the realization that I'm not alone (or unique) in my struggles/ opportunity to break out of my tendencies to isolate.
oops.
I'm not the brightest bluelighter am i?
You can use before meetings...in between meetings...and after. Just sit through them. You'll start hearing shares that you might relate too.