I think we got off track for two reasons, one is we have had "this debate" about "stats" so many times on this forums we are tired of it (That's my reason anyway).
I mean we have seen this topic so many times and it has always turned into a tedious conversation, with someone "viewing with alarm for the good of AA" or someone else using it to knock AA, your post was thought provoking and well thought out, and as I stated in my first post, my "primary purpose" is to stay sober and help other alcoholics, and I can best do that by concentrating on my own program, that's just me. Like I said, for awhile I got "alarmed for the good of AA" in various forms, one of which was the "statistic debate" that frankly I have only seen online, to me, the program of Alcoholics anonymous occurs in the rooms of AA and that's where I can best be of service any more.
Secondly it got derailed, and I will take some responsibility for that derailment, because in thread after thread the topic gets hijacked to be about DK's spiritual beliefs (or lack thereof) and that just gets tedious after 2 or 3 hundred threads.
Thank you for the topic and for posting the transcript, be well on your journey.