Generally speaking, Alcoholics Anonymous is a program based on spiritual growth. So (in theory), any connection with spirituality should work to that end. This is the program’s official stance on spirituality, taken from the A.A. text and repeated at meetings every day across the country. In the day-to-day reality of my A.A. life however, this is seldom the case. On the surface, most people would quote the same thing I just said about spirituality when asked their opinion on it. I can tell though, that there are definite lines being drawn between the religious and the non-religious people inside the fellowship. In a really insane way, I actually envy the reverence of the bond shared by religious people. I also become extremely annoyed when people go from genuine interaction to what I would call “polite non-association”, as soon as this subject comes up in conversation. Of course, this type of behavior is not supposed to be encouraged at meetings and so as a result, nobody would ever own up to it if questioned. I guarantee it is happening though.
For the record, I think that any type of personal growth is a good thing and is an ideal we should all strive toward. I don’t see anyone’s faith in a higher power as being a problem for me, as long as I can be free to believe as I like as well. I do have a problem with the group being split along religious lines though. It is a phenomenon based purely on narrow-minded fear, and I just have a really hard time tolerating that. I feel reduced to making cryptic remarks at tables in the hopes of weeding out the few “fellow atheists” that I want to meet and talk to. I don’t even like looking at it that way but I almost feel forced to. As atheists, many of us feel the need to avoid being honest about our beliefs in order to fit in. This program is based heavily on the principles of honesty and integrity, so you can imagine the cognitive dissonance there! It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.
Rational Serenity 