An open letter to the General Service Office of AA
I sent off them following letter to the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous this morning. It will be interesting to see their reply. It usually takes a couple of months to get a response.
5/2/2005
General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
I would like clarification of an issue that has come up in our area.
We have a small AA group and it is listed in the area directory.Our meeting is open to alcoholics and it is listed in the area directory.
Some of our members are believers in Jesus Christ and ,of course, speak freely about their faith in the meeting. But I want to make it clear the meeting is open to all and that we believe in the general principles of the 12 steps. There is no requirement of a particular belief to attend.
The only trouble is that someone in the Central office of our area has said they don’t want Jesus Christ being mentioned at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. This seems rather strange to me since any study of AA literature reveals the Christian origin of the steps.
My question then is this:
Is our group entitled to all rights of any AA group including to have our meeting listed in directories? Can we be excluded solely for the reason we allow free speech and people to profess their faith in Jesus Christ?
Sincerely,
Ted W.
posted by Anon at 11:18 AM
3 Comments:
I received a 2 page response from the General Services Office Staff today 5/16/2005. The letter was in response to the question:
"Is our group entitled to all rights of ann A.A. Group including having our meeting listed in Directories? Can we be excluded soley for the reason we allow free speech and people to profess their faith in Jesus Christ?"
Their answer is they are not the final authority on any local group matter.
There is one paragraph from the letter I would like to quote:
"As our preamble states,"A.A. is not allied with any sect,denomnation,politics,irganizations or institutions; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses or opposes any causes" The dictionary defines "sect" as "religious denomination". Sharing about specific Christian experiences may give the impression that A.A. is allied with Christianity- a specific religious denomination. This is direct cntradiction of our preamble."
The letter is signed by Valerie O'Neill, General Office Staff
3:27 PM
I have sent off the following letter in response to the GSO letter to me.
Valerie 0’Neil
General Services Staff
Thank you for your letter dated May 11, 2005. I would like some additional clarification from you.
You state “As our preamble states,”AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organizations, or institutions: does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses or opposes any causes. The dictionary defines “sect” as “religious denomination” Sharing about specific Christian experiences may give the impression that AA is allied with Christianity- a specific religious denomination. This is a direct contradiction of our preamble.
However, I have a first edition of the Book ,”Alcoholics Anonymous” which many modern AA’s have never read. In that book is the story “Smile with me, at me”.
In that story the author writes:
“ One morning, after a sleepless night worrying over what I could do to straighten myself out, I went to my room alone-took my Bible in hand and asked Him, the One Power, that I might open to a good place to read-and I read. "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?"
That was enough for me-I started to understand. Here were the words of Paul a great teacher. What then if I had slipped? Now, I could understand.
From that day years ago, I gave, still give and always will give time everyday to read the word of God and let Him do all the caring. Who am I to try to run myself or anyone else?”
How could sharing about specific Christian experience be a direct contradiction of our preample when the book with the preamble in it has such a specific Christian experience?
4:44 PM
I finally received an answer from
GSO to my last letter. They didn't
really answer the question I posed, but danced around it and said next to nothing. What else could they do since they are wrong.
9:41 PM
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