A nice warm welcome for non theists by Dr.Bob of AA

“If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you...Your Havenly father will never let you down!"

how about?...

Modified 12-steps for secularists and non-theists.

1. We admitted our lives had become unmanageable and that alcohol has taken over.
2. Came to believe that the application of evidence and reason, a power much greater than ourselves, could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to thinking based on evidence and rational reasoning.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to reality, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Read books on naturalistic morality and ethics.
6. Were entirely ready to have the cold light of logic, evidence and reason remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly consider and atempt to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory by the application of reason, evidence and rational secular morality an ethics, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through study of science and correct reasoning to improve our conscious contact with science and reality, reading for knowledge of the facts of reality and your inner power to carry that out.
12. Having had a rational awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

but that wouldnt be working 'THE' program would it?  that would be making your own, so you havent worked the steps if you have done it like this. What a shame, becuase it does the same jobs as the 'spiritual/theistic' aproach and is based on logic and reason rather than blind faith and as the point of recovery programs is to get people clean and acting like it, not about getting them to surrender and use a higher power (that is just HOW most do it, not WHY we do it, right?)

it doesnt really matter what anyone else has to say about it, im just putting it out there so people have the opertunity to take what they want leave the rest and if the steps are up to your own interpretation, you can skip, pogo, dance or moonwalk up them as long as you go up them, then this can be seen as an 'interpretation' of THE 12 steps. right?  

As I've said over and over again, you don't have to believe in God -- just a power greater than yourself.  Better yet, simply believe that YOU are NOT God -- that works, too.

If working THE program worked for everyone exactly the same way, we would all be a bunch of little AA automatons, each believing and saying the same thing; however, while we may agree on the basic precepts, each person incoporates the program into their life as they see fit.  I've known atheists who have successfully worked and lived the program, just as I've known devout believers of specific religions do the same.  Is it THE program as outlined in the Big Book? No.  But if it works for you, DO IT!

And that's what it boils down to -- LIVING the program -- not talking about it.  LIVE the program, and it won't bother you what others think or don't think.  God-bashing is just as intolerant and objectionable as having God shoved down one's throat.

So, believe what you choose to believe, if that's what keeps you clean/sober.  Nothing and no one is perfect in this world -- not even Bill, Bob or the Steps -- all any of us can do is try.

For anyone interested in an agnostic or humanist version of the 12 steps, here are two links which may be helpful:

silkworth.net/magazine_newspaper/humanist_jul_aug_1987.html

weagnostics.com/agnostic-steps.html

thank you for posting this. i think some people just need to be told that we need a Power Greater that us. our own believe of God as we see him, is what we need. we dont need to work with or try to understand anyone else's. we need to be Willing to believe and work the steps as best we can. and stay sober, living a life that is on the right path. you can not control the way others think or believe in things, just because its not the way im doing it doesnt mean its wrong. as long as they reach the destination they were looking for. thank you for being here for me and everyone else....

............................................Just Breathe...............................................................................