Alcoholism is an equal opportunity disease: it crosscuts gender, race, social class, language, ethnic group, and religion. On the other hand, treatment of alcoholism is often based on an evangelical Protestant Christian model in which salvation—known in the jargon of recovery as sobriety—is sought by finding God. People seeking sobriety are expected and encouraged to turn their will and lives over to the care of a god—usually visualized as the Protestant Christian God.
This model for treating alcoholism is, of course, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It has been remarkably effective in bringing sobriety to millions of people. This program is most effective for people coming from a Christian background. For atheists and agnostics, however, the AA program may be a bit of a challenge. Not only do the AA steps mention God (the name of a deity as indicated by the capital “G”) as necessary for obtaining sobriety, but the AA literature also stresses the need to surrender one’s will over to the care of this God (or Higher Power). It is implied that atheists can’t get sober and that agnostics should keep an “open mind” so that they can find God.
It should be pointed out that each AA group is autonomous and vary greatly regarding the religious emphasis of the program. In some groups there is a strong emphasis on the need to turn to God (meaning the Christian one) in order to stop drinking and obtain sobriety. It is not uncommon for groups to open their meetings with a statement indicating that they are not affiliated with any religious denomination and then close the meeting with an affirmation of Christian faith (the Lord’s Prayer). In other groups, the concepts of god or higher power is seldom mentioned and prayers are not a part of the meeting ritual.
The stories in the AA literature suggest that when an atheist alcoholic reaches out for help, that request for help should be denied so that the alcoholic will then have to turn to a god or higher power for help.
Recognizing that the AA approach has been successful in helping many alcoholics, in some communities, judges have sentenced alcohol abusers to attend AA meetings rather than jail. There have been a few atheists who have objected to such sentencing and the higher courts have generally overruled such sentences on the grounds that they violence First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion.
There is a secular alternative to AA: Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS). SOS credits the individual rather than a deity for obtaining and maintaining sobriety.
Welcome to Street Prophets Saturday, an open thread at the intersection of Religion and Politics. All topics are welcome.