Actually, AA IS Christian: Jews, Muslims, & Atheists Make the Point Clear
If AA is a spiritual program, not religious, then why must it be made less Christian for other religions?
Comment From Reader
Since the two founders of AA met in a Christian revivalist movement called the Oxford Group, it obviously has affinities with Christianity.
But it’s a bit like a film remake with a different director and cast. To say AA actually IS Christian is like saying the 2001 remake of Oceans Eleven is a Frank Sinatra film.
It isn’t. ~Jonathan Lynn Harvey
Dear Jonathan,
You say AA is “a bit like a film remake,” but make the false comparison of saying AA is Christian like, “Oceans Eleven is a Frank Sinatra Film.” Which is it? A remake of Christianity or a wholly different religion? Does it matter? If AA is a “remake,” it is either a Christian sect/cult or an entirely new belief system derived from the same religion. The answer, Christian sect/cult, is best viewed outside the bias of both traditional AA and Christianity. What clarifies AA the most are the views of other religious and nonreligious adherents to the twelve steps — the few that there are.
From the Jewish Standpoint
AA is clearly not a Jewish program, denoted by few Jewish Twelve Step Groups and Treatment facilities. Still, these groups and a handful of facilities exist, but they are not AA; they are Jewish Twelve Step Groups that have modified the “program” to fit Judaism.
In 2019, Michael Graubart wrote in the Jerusalem Post,
But pretty much everywhere else in the world, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings take place mostly in churches, and the literature, language, culture, and overall “feel” often as though they have a decidedly Christian nature.
Graubart goes on to explain how he was not keen on the Lord’s Prayer and other Christian aspects of AA but comes to the realization that “most of Christian beliefs (with the exception of accepting J.C. as one’s savior) are Jewish in origin.” Thus, with a little modification, the Twelve Steps become more kosher.
Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski zt”l, who feels the Twelve Steps are compatible with Judaism, restates and justifies the twelve steps, such as the concept of “God as we understood Him,” which he believes “was meant to avoid reference to the deity of any religion. The Jew should say, ‘Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of Hashem.’”
His restatement is rooted in the Torah, which is the driver for more changes the Rabbi must make. He also must find grounds on which to justify confession to another person. Forgiveness or confession is complex in Judaism, having different nuances and traditions such as public confession vs confessing to an individual and forgiveness not a guarantee.
From these examples we see the need for alterations to justify the use of the Twelve Steps in Judaism, and these alterations become even more pronounced when viewed from Islam.
From the Islamic Standpoint
Though an Islamic Twelve Stepper is as common as a unicorn, Muslims have adopted the AA program in some circles. Of course, they also modify the program:
1. We admitted that we were neglectful of our higher selves and that our lives have become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that Allah could and would restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to submit our will to the will of Allah.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
5. We admitted to Allah and to ourselves the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Asking Allah for right guidance, we became willing and open for change, ready to have Allah remove our defects of character.
7. We humbly ask Allah to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of persons we have harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through Salaat* and Iqraa* to improve our understanding of Taqwa* and Ihsan.*
12. Having increased our level of Iman (faith) and Taqwa, as a result of applying these steps, we carried this message to humanity and began practicing these principles in all our affairs.*Salaat Prayer service in Islam
*Iqraa Reading and studying
*Taqqwa G-d consciousness; proper Love and respect for Allah
*Ihsan Though we cannot see Allah, He does see us.
So with a little alteration the Twelve Steps become compatible with Islam. However, these alterations are not simply a swapping of synonymous ideas since these changes create a different set of twelve steps then the ones professed by AA. More importantly, they carry different meaning since the steps are followed differently and for different reasons, i.e., “admitted to Allah and to ourselves the exact nature of our wrongs” opposed to “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
What These Changes to the Twelve Steps Mean
If AA needs to be made more Jewish and Islamic to be compatible with these religions, this begs the question of why a spiritual-based, nonreligious recovery program needs religious modification to begin with? Moreover, we must ask what the program is modified from?
Christianity of course.
AA is Christianity, evidenced by its incompatibility with other religions unless modified to take on respective religious components. Alternative addiction treatment programs, such as CBT or Talk Therapy, do not need to be modified to be compatible with religions. The Christian nature of AA explains perfectly why the program must be altered for other religions and even for atheists.
In its “fellowship of concerned, loving people,” he said, he found a secular version of the “Higher Power” to which A.A. literature refers. Humanist A.A. groups also have drafted their own nontheistic versions of the 12 steps. Instead of needing divine assistance for recovery, for example, one step states that “we needed strengths beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.”
If you need to find “a secular version of the ‘Higher Power,’” clearly, the Higher Power is nonsecular. Since the program relies on a higher power to take away the drinking problem, logic dictates that the program is religious or spiritual. If the AA program were truly spiritual, such as yoga or meditation, it would not need modification for religious compatibility. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and other religions can all participate in yoga without violating religious beliefs. This same attendance cannot be said for AA without altering the program or justifying participation with in-depth explanations. Therefore, AA is not just religious — but also Christian.
If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck.