[Chairperson, introduce yourself, then read the following:]


Welcome. This is a meeting of AGNOSTICS & ATHEISTS IN RECOVERY. We are an addiction recovery meeting for those who may not believe in supernatural intervention in human affairs and who are open to other ideas which have helped individuals to free themselves from addiction. Our intention is not to promote agnosticism or atheism but to provide a meeting for addicts who want to explore and develop additional paths to recovery from addiction and addictive behavior.

We know from our own experience that any human can recover from addiction if he or she truly wants to recover. We believe that recovery requires two basic elements: an individual's strong desire to end addictive behavior and, since the human being is also a social animal, a support group of empathetic individuals to share her or his recovery experience with. In this meeting, our common goal is to communicate among ourselves and with newcomers the ways we have found that work for us to stay free of our addictions and to share how recovery works and feels on a day to day basis.

Also we acknowledge the help that Alcoholics Anonymous is to many of us in our quest for continuous sobriety and recommend the book of Alcoholics Anonymous for further understanding of addiction and recovery.


We suggest there are several stages in the recovery process:

First, we must develop a strong desire to get free and stay free of addiction (1st step.)

Second, we are stubborn individualists, but we strive to quit fighting everything and everybody and to learn to listen respectfully to the thoughts and feelings of others in recovery and people who share the globe with us. (2nd and 3rd steps.)

Third, we want to develop and maintain a process of honest self-evaluation by which we come to face ourselves and to understand our relationships with others. (4th and 10th steps.)

Fourth, through self-evaluation, we discover that many addicts feel a strong sense of fear, guilt and/or shame which isolates us from other human beings, and therefore we try to share with others, or with a chosen individual, the sources of our alienation, hoping to alleviate our isolation. (5th step.)

Fifth, once we understand our behavior, which has often been self-destructive and harmful to others, we try to develop the humility to amend our destructive habits, to be willing to change our attitudes about life and to repair our damaged relationships with others. We strive for a "completely new set of conceptions and motives" in our lives. (Alcoholics Anonymous, p.27 and 6th through 9th steps.)

Sixth, after we are free of our addictions for a period of time, we strive to find ways to continually stretch our humanity and to become participating members of the larger community, always remembering the lessons we learn in recovery and looking for ways to be of use to others and to addicts like ourselves. (11th and 12th steps.)


It is the consensus that these shares be about addiction and recovery, not a forum about one's beliefs or non-beliefs or other peoples' beliefs. If you have one, please turn off your phone. We are now ready for individual sharing. Share when you are moved to share. Speak once and try to remember how many are left to speak and how much time remains for sharing. Please don't interrupt others when they are speaking. If time remains after everyone has shared, you many speak again, but the chairperson will end this meeting at [10am].

Let's open with a few minutes of meditation to focus our thoughts on why we are here and on what we want to accomplish this morning. [After a time of silence, indicate that it's time to start sharing and ask for topics.]

Is there anyone attending their first or second AA meeting ever? Anyone in their first 30 days?




[At 10am:] "It's time to close the meeting. Please remember that everything you have heard here must remain strictly confidential. We'll close the meeting with a few moments of silence to consider what we've accomplished this morning."

[After a time announce] "The meeting is now closed." [If someone turned off a cell phone, remind them to turn it on again.]