To the two zens: thank you!
Originally Posted by
SelfSeeking 
I'm still a card-carrying secular member. Still an atheist to the rotten core
I'm also still sober. I guess that means I'm just not really an alcoholic, just a problem drinker using some cheap psychological trick to control my drinking.
Followed by the knee-jerk thought, I'm not an alcoholic! I can go start drinking again
rightnow! Maybe I should reexamine my reasoning. Or stop reading the 12 step forum except for ananda's lovely secular 12-step one.
*deep cleansing breaths*
SS, thank you so much for the laughs this morning. I guess what bothers me so much about the term (can I even call it that) "real alcoholic" is that it is implied by those very words that there is such a thing as a "fake alcoholic." As a person who has a drinking problem and does not work the program of AA, I apparently fall under the category of "fake alcoholic." I take great offense to that suggestion. I have a very real addiction that will kill me if I do not address it. I feel especially sorry for newcomers who read this dogma and convince themselves they don't have a problem.