Christians in A.A.
Alcoholics Anonymous History
By Dick B.
August 2008
I don’t have any statistics! I don’t know of
any statistics. And I’m not sure I care about any statistics
that might exist. But I think it would be valuable if we knew
for sure that, among the two-million members worldwide, the
A.A. fellowship contains a Christian or two.
As a matter of fact, it doesn’t require a
statistical survey to establish that it does. How many
Christian members are there? I don’t know. And it’s not the
function of A.A. to find out.
But those of us who know the history of
A.A., who ignore the chatter of uninformed critics, and who
have attended thousands of meetings can attest to certain facts
you can observe for yourself. But only if you choose to.
Some Facts You Can
Observe:
(1) Early A.A. had two distinctly different origins. (2) The
first was with the United Christian Endeavor Movement and Dr.
Bob’s active membership in that society and in the North
Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. (3) Dr. Bob
was then, and remained, a Christian for the rest of his life.
(4) The Akron fellowship he led was called a Christian
Fellowship by him and its members. (5) That fellowship required
the acceptance of Christ as well as the study of the Bible by
all who sought membership in it. (6) When the Cleveland Roman
Catholics split off from the Akron fellowship, it was largely
because their priest deemed Akron’s group to be Protestant
Christian. (7) Then began a large influx of Roman Catholics to
A.A. with a resultant plurality of these Christians among the
membership then, and even today. (8) One need only travel to
A.A. meetings in several parts of the United States to hear the
confessions in meetings by speakers who consider themselves
born-again Christians, and by speakers who say they were raised
Catholic and have returned to their church. (9) The critics who
claim that A.A. never was Christian in nature simply ignore the
facts above and repudiate as well the Christianity of A.A.’s
New York mentors in the Oxford Group—led by Lutheran Minister
Frank Buchman, Episcopalian priest Sam Shoemaker, and a host of
other Christian clergy from the Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
Congregational, Dutch Reformed, Anglican, and other
denominations. (10) Only a rabid, prejudiced outsider would
claim there are no Christians in A.A. You can see and hear
Roman Catholic priests and nuns speaking in and participating
as members in A.A. around the world. There is a fellowship of
“recovering” Episcopalian priests who espouse A.A. And there
are frequently people who speak in meetings and identify
themselves as Roman Catholics, or as followers of Jesus Christ,
or as members of various Christian churches.
What’s the Point?
First, let’s review some pertinent facts about Alcoholics
Anonymous today: (1) A.A. is not a Christian Fellowship. (2)
A.A. includes members of many denominations—Protestant, Roman
Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, and humanist. (3) A.A. was once, in
Akron, a Protestant Christian Fellowship. (4) A.A. in Akron
was, at an early point, much influenced by Sister Ignatia, a
Roman Catholic nun. (5) A.A. was once, in the New York area,
strongly influenced by Jesuit Roman Catholic priests; by a
number of “mainline” Protestant clergy from Calvary Episcopal
Church; by Rev. Norman Vincent Peale; by Christian Science
writings; and by the writings of several “New Thought” speakers
and writers who considered themselves Christians. (6) Today’s
A.A. has no membership as such, nor any membership
requirements, nor any bars to admission. But its society
consists of people from all the foregoing Christian groups as
well as people who are atheists, humanists, agnostics,
spiritualists, Buddhists, and unbelievers. (7) Members are not
required to believe in Yahweh, Jesus Christ, the gift of the
Holy Spirit, the Bible, the doctrines of any sect or creed or
in anything at all. (8) There are countless utterances among
A.A. members that they have a “higher power” which can be a
tree, a radiator, a Coke bottle, a rock, the Big Dipper, Santa
Claus, Gertrude, Him or Her or It, a light bulb, a door knob,
the Great Pumpkin, and other absurd names for a supposed deity
or power.(9) There is no rule or Tradition or group or
hierarchy in A.A. that can exclude any of the above, that can
expel them from any meetings, or that can demand adherence by
members to the beliefs of the majority in such meetings. (10)
Many judges, scholars, and observers have legitimately observed
and in fact ruled that A.A. is still quite clearly a religion,
just not a Christian religion. (11) Others dispute this point
with some arguing A.A. is “spiritual” but not “religious,”
failing to define what the difference might be, and ignoring
the fact that both words have synonymous origins. (12) Still
others (a substantial number of Protestant Christian clergy)
have a great concern that today’s A.A.--with its emphasis on
the secular, on universalism, and on “any god” or
“not-god”--does an immense disservice to people in A.A. who are
already Christians and to those who might otherwise become
Christians. The concern is based on the hostility and
intimidation within the meetings directed toward those who
express Christian or religious views and also on the emphasis
among professionals, treatment people, and even some AAs on a
pseudo-religion of “higher power spirituality.” A theology or
philosophy that exudes far more New Age idolatry than can
possibly be helpful to a person who believes in the Creator,
Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible.
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