From TheStar.com:
I found this especially telling about the impact of this decision, as well as the positive effect of these secular chapters:On Tuesday, Torontos two secular AA groups, known as Beyond Belief and We Agnostics, were removed or delisted from the roster of local meetings. Theyve disappeared from the Toronto AA website and will not be in the next printed edition of the Toronto directory.
The dispute started when Beyond Belief posted an adapted version of AAs hallowed Twelve Steps on the Toronto website. They removed the word God from the steps, which are used as a kind of road map to help drinkers achieve sobriety.
They took issue with a public display of secular AA, says Joe C., who founded Beyond Belief, Torontos first agnostic AA group, 18 months ago. (In keeping with AAs tradition of anonymity, members are identified by first names only.)
It proved popular enough that a second group started up last fall; it took its name from a chapter in the AA bible entitled Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly known as the Big Book. The group, We Agnostics, had only recently completed the paperwork to be part of AA before being booted out.
What does everyone else think of this? Is it appropriate for the biggest support group for recovering alcoholics to demand religious faith of its members?One man wept in dismay over the delisting at Beyond Beliefs Thursday night meeting at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education on Bloor Street West. Thirty-two people, mostly men, sat at desks in a classroom.
I do believe in God, he said after the meeting. But you dont need to believe in God to recover and I dont think its appropriate at AA.
The meeting opened with a statement that said, in keeping with AA tradition, the group did not endorse or oppose either religious belief or atheism. Our only wish is to ensure suffering alcoholics that they can find sobriety in AA without having to accept anyone elses beliefs, or having to deny their own.
Ive tried AA meetings and I couldnt get past the influence of right-wing Christianity, said a big, Liam Neeson look-alike.
Last night I went to a meeting and it was like a sermon again, he told the group. I felt I should quit.
But someone told me, hey, go downtown, theres an atheist/agnostic meeting. So I thought I thought Id give AA one last chance and I came here.
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