Mainecoonmama

I tried using the search engine to see if this has been asked (I'm on my phone and it's very glitchy), but I so often see how highly people praise the 12 steps. When I googled it, it was very god-based.
Is there a 12 steps that does not involve religion?

Dee74

Hi Mainecoonmamma - you'll get some varied answers here

Just FYI - we also have a forum here dedicated to doing the 12 steps from a secular veiwpoint... you might be interested in that as well..

Secular 12 Step Recovery - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

You''ll find some good discussion and reading there.

Cornbread

The Big Book covers this well. You might want to read it to see if it can work for you.

Done4today

God as you understand him. My god has nothing to do with religion. I can't explain what my HP is but it's definitely not the religious type.

Gottalife

The steps without some kind of personal higher power? How would we have a spiritual experience? The steps are designed to open the door to a power greater than ourself to solve our problem. If we don't want or need the power, we don't need to open the door, and we wouldn't need the steps.

I was just thinking also I am a fairly secular person, yet I managed to work the steps and have my own experience with a higher power, without invoking any formal religion. Never spoke to a priest, never sang a hymn, never attended a service, never followed any religious rules.

Done4today

Sorry Mainecoonmama that I didn't answer your question.

I believe that all 12 step programs are not religious based. They deal with spirituality. They can be very religious if you want them to be. They also can be interpreted to be religious for those that want to use that as an excuse to not do them and/or continue to drink.

paulokes

Hi!

Part of the history of AAs 12 steps comes from the famous psychologist Carl Jung...who was treating an alcoholic and told him he needed a 'Drastic rearrangement of Ideas, Emotions and Attitudes'. Essentially we are talking about change...but perhaps very drastic change in a short space of time.

Your ability to work the 12 steps without God depends (I think) on your ability to look at/hear the word God and stay open to what it might really mean, or what the true purpose of God might be to a more religious person.

P

NYCDoglvr

AA isn't a religion, although it's based on Christianity. In my 26th year I'm still an agnostic, my higher power is God = Group of Drunks. It says several places in the Big Book that you can define your own higher power. There are Buddhists in AA meetings.

Chiovnidca

If you're confused about the tie in between religion and God you're not the only one. LOL Religion is a human ritual in my opinion. A belief in God can be had without joining a religion.

As for the 12 steps: they do require a belief in a higher power if you are to make any true gains. A power greater than yourself. I know that can be a sticking point for some, as it was for me. Especially that 2nd step, it took me 12 years to get past that one.

Keep an open mind and dont give up.

tomsteve

"Is there a 12 steps that does not involve religion?"
yes, there is- the 12 steps of aa.

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.

If the man be agnostic or atheist, make it emphatic that he does not have to agree with your conception of God. He can choose any conception he likes, provided it makes sense to him. The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles.


if aa was religious, i have no idea what religion it would be.
theres people in aa that choose satan as their hp even.

JudicatorPanzer

AA says that God is a God of your own conception. Your higher power can be anything you imagine but it must obviously be more powerful than yourself.

Db1105

For me, GOD = Good Orderly Direction. It started out as a Group Of Drunks.

Centered3

I recovered doing the 12 steps without religion.

I recovered doing the 12 steps with the God of my own understanding, otherwise known as spirituality.

I learned this in AA.