YVRguy

I see this as simple and the topic has come up and I disagree with the liberal leanings of some old timers local here who think its okay to bend the AA name/brand. Its clear , not from AA literature , it does not belong and is an outside issue imho.

Tradition 6

An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

Tradition 10

Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

Tradition 11

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

Vandermast

jeez

hazelden has many good books used in treatment centres and they aren't conference approved.

aa literature approved by world services is conference approved.


i choose to quit the debating society

or display guruish knowledge for its own sake.

v

CarriePie

thank you Noelle. Finely! someone who knows and understands tradition one, and our principles! :-)

NoelleR

It appears that many folks still do not understand what the term 'conference approved literature' means. A summary might be what I posted earlier.........:

"...I'm all for 'groups' or 'meetings' to have a group/meeting conscience to decide what books/whatevers will and/or won't be read in the group/meeting, but let's remember what 'Conference Approved Literature' really means, and it DOESN'T mean what may or may not be read in groups/meetings.....:

The term “Conference-approved” describes written or audiovisual material approved by the Conference for publication by G.S.O. ---(remember, GSO owns/operates a printing/publishing co.).

The term has no relation to material not published by G.S.O. It does not imply
Conference disapproval of other material about A.A. A great deal of literature helpful to alcoholics is published by others, and A.A. does not try to tell any individual member what he or she may or may not read.

Just because they don't/can't print certain books/pamphlets/whatevers doesn't mean they are 'not allowed' to be read, ONLY that GSO doesn't/can't print them (maybe because they decide to not print them, but more than likely, some other co. owns the publishing/printing rights and will not give up those rights)..."

If anyone is interested in the whole of AA's take on 'conference approved literature' check out this link on AA's official website............:

http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/smf-29_en.pdf

(o:
NoelleR

P.S. Yes, I do understand AA's traditions and principles, and they do not say anything about what literature should/should not be used in meetings. Let's remember, 'conference approved' ONLY means what AA officially publishes/prints. There's lots of great stuff out there that AA's publishing/printing arm is not allowed to publish/print due to others owning the copyrights; this does NOT mean these should not be used in AA meetings (unless the folks of the group understands the term 'conference approved' and have a group conscious to only use 'conference approved' literature).

P.P.S. I'm one of those who believes that a group that decides to ONLY use 'conference approved' literature is short-changing itself, and all it's members (shame! shame!).

paul99

Thank you for clarifying that Noelle. I haven't bore witness to any skirmishes over literature at a group or meeting (yet), so this is quite an interesting thread. Almost all the meetings use the BB and / or 12&12 exclusively up here. A few will use other common supplemental material like "As Bill Sees It" or "24 hrs a day" or "Daily Reflections", but they are in the minority. No one has gone out of their way to denounce them. I think that looking through this thread, books of all kinds have been an inspiration and bedrock for the BB itself, and the early meetings when they didn't have the BB yet. To dismiss other literature for the sake of an imagined hard line policy would be narrow vision, in my opinion. My bookshelf is jam packed with material that wouldn't fly at a meeting, but has been valuable to my recovery, and still are. I am sure we all do.

We sometimes have poems read at meetings - the certainly don't come from any of the literature, but they fit the spirit of the meeting and the spirit and recovery, so no one gets worked up over them. They are part of the preamble, so most people aren't paying attention anyway...lol.

Anyway, great thread, great information.