Algorithm

Jeffrey knows very well that AVRT is not religious, and he says as much in his post, so I would wager that what actually concerns him is that AVRT does not exclude religiosity, unlike some other secular recovery homes he is accustomed to, where people often gather around and criticize the religiosity of mainstream recovery for most of the meetings. This is why he places devil in quotation marks, for example, as he does with Beast.

Of course, Beast is simply the name that AVRT gives to the addiction. It is no more a metaphor than 'triangle' is a metaphor for a geometric figure with three sides. Humans use language, and they name things in order to enable communication and complex thoughts. Were it otherwise, none of us would be able to communicate with each other over thousands of miles away via computer networks, as we are doing here, for example.

Addiction is not unique to secularists, however, and the religious-secular divide, as it pertains to addiction recovery, is entirely a consequence of having placed the adoption of a particular religious orientation as an obstacle to recovery for so long. Indeed, the sub-heading for the secular forum is "Alternatives to 12 Step Recovery", which perfectly reflects this reality.

AVRT, of course, is not an alternative to 12-Step recovery per se. Rather, it is an alternative to addiction, and it does not discriminate very much between secular and religious approaches. Its target is the Addictive Voice -- that comprehensive style of thinking that sustains addiction -- regardless of its source.

Perhaps, but AVRT would require no modifications if it really were Satan himself whispering sweet nothings into addicted people's ears. This is what concerns the ardent secularists.