[nandm]

I'm not going for this God stuff. How could there possibly be a God when there are so many starving people and wars where everybody says God is on their side. What about those sanctimonious church goers who judge me for my sins and then commit their own. I am not going to accept damnation and hell fire from some old man with a white beard sitting in the clouds. What about all those preachers who talk about heaven and then live like hell?

First, no one is telling us that we have to believe in anything. If we do not care for the conception of God suggested by other people we need not even consider it. Most of us have had our objections to the idea of God. When we look at them in the light of alcoholic destruction we see that they are insignificant and that our prejudices only serve to block us off from the Power we need to recover.

We Agnostics begins by defining alcoholism

If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if, when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

and presenting the basic premise of the book, that alcoholism is an illness which only a spiritual experience can conquer

If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.

. Alcoholics are sometimes resistant to accept such a solution so we are presented with alternatives

To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis---not always easy alternatives to face.

. Why our moral codes and firmly held philosophies are not sufficient to overcome alcoholism is explained clearly

But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma.

. Access to a Power greater than ourselves is the solution to our powerlessness and a promise is made to show us exactly how to find this Power

Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be A Power Greater Than Ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?
Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself, which will solve your problem.

. Our many objections to accepting this solution are addressed.

It is suggested that we lay aside our prejudices and that willingness is all we need to begin to get results. The directions for Step Two are given in the form of a simple question.

Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?

We are cautioned to abandon attitudes that handicap us. All we have to do is acknowledge the existence of this Power and we can begin to use it

As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps.

. This Power is within the reach of everyone. To begin, all we have to do is to set aside our prejudices and take an honest look at the God idea

Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.

. Sound reasons for believing are enumerated (paragraphs 14 through 30 in "We Agnostics"). The efficacy of self-sufficiency is discussed

Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.

. A reasonable and practical description of faith is given and our choice is laid before us

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?

We Agnostics have no direct experience accessing a Power greater than ourselves. This chapter masterfully addresses our objections and gives us practical reasons why we should try this way of life. Instructions on how to make a beginning are also provided.