In looking for readings for the Beginner's Meeting I'll be co-chairing, I ran into this in
"As Bill Sees It." A few of us were discussing this in a different thread, but I think it's interesting enough to
not get buried.
A Higher Power for Atheists, page 277
"I have had many experiences with atheists, mostly good. Everybody in A.A. has the right to his own opinion. It is much better to maintain an open and tolerant society than it is to suppress any small disturbances their opinions might occasion. Actually, I don't know anybody who went off and died of alcoholism because [of] some atheist's opinions on the cosmos.
"But I do always entreat these folks to look to a `Higher Power' -- namely, their own group. When they come in, most of their A.A. group is sober, and they are drunk. Therefore, the group is a Higher Power'. That's a good enough start, and most of them do progress from there. I know how they feel, because I was once that way myself."
LETTER, 1962
I don't care for the attitude towards atheists, but that's ok.
