AA following, are they cult like?
misanthrope
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BC
Posts: 52
AA following, are they cult like?
Please don't take this the wrong way, and I realize this is controversial but AA at times appears to be almost a religion in itself...or in some way almost cult like in it's following.
I am not a religious man myself and i am just honestly curious, can this type of thing be a problem at AA meetings?
I am not a religious man myself and i am just honestly curious, can this type of thing be a problem at AA meetings?
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,445
Geez Hawks - remarks like that don't help....
It's not a cult FDG. The vast array of different opinions here from AA members attests to that.
Best way to find out is go along. They don't lock the doors
D
It's not a cult FDG. The vast array of different opinions here from AA members attests to that.
Best way to find out is go along. They don't lock the doors
D
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 181
Honestly, not in conventional terms. People are very passionate about their belief in AA, and there are certain readings that are done at every meeting, but you will find people who are Christian, atheist, Buddhist, Jewish, you name it. The word God is used but people substitute the words higher power or something else if they are not religious. The principles of AA are not up for debate but everyone is allowed to put their own personal interpretation on those principles and apply them to their lives on an individual basis. I don't feel it's a cult.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Jacksonville FL
Posts: 164
You can youtube this topic. Just type in AA as a cult and there are many videos that will explain why and in what ways it is. I think it is very cultish. Its why I was so against joining at first. But if it will help me and save me from my addiction and allow me to be a productive, functioning, respected member of society, then maybe joining the AA cult is better then not joining. It helps people live lives that they never would have been able to without AA.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 1,572
Cults 101: Checklist of Cult Characteristics
It may share a couple of the traits with certain over zealous members, but since they don't tell you what to think, where to go, how to spend your money, or who to associate with, no it's not a cult.
Some people are really excited to share this message of hope with others, and they get a bit over zealous about it, I 'm afraid.
Others had no social life outside a bar, and it becomes a new home for them.
Some people really need to contribute, and spend many many hours talking to alcoholics, doing 12 step work and donating their time.
I know from the outside these really zealous members can appear to be zealots, but AA is pretty clear. Anyone with a desire to stop drinking is a member. Period.
It may share a couple of the traits with certain over zealous members, but since they don't tell you what to think, where to go, how to spend your money, or who to associate with, no it's not a cult.
Some people are really excited to share this message of hope with others, and they get a bit over zealous about it, I 'm afraid.
Others had no social life outside a bar, and it becomes a new home for them.
Some people really need to contribute, and spend many many hours talking to alcoholics, doing 12 step work and donating their time.
I know from the outside these really zealous members can appear to be zealots, but AA is pretty clear. Anyone with a desire to stop drinking is a member. Period.
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,476
I was being sarcastic, which I guess doesn't show up in print / text.
Maybe I should have said.... Stop reading websites like the Orange Papers and AA Cultwatch and go along and find out for yourself.
If you look hard enough at any organisation you can identify "cult like" traits.
If you would like to test that, see how far you get down at the local lawn bowls club by taking along a ten pin bowling ball, and using a basket ball for the jack.
I'm guessing you'll come under a little pressure to conform there too.
Maybe I should have said.... Stop reading websites like the Orange Papers and AA Cultwatch and go along and find out for yourself.
If you look hard enough at any organisation you can identify "cult like" traits.
If you would like to test that, see how far you get down at the local lawn bowls club by taking along a ten pin bowling ball, and using a basket ball for the jack.
I'm guessing you'll come under a little pressure to conform there too.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Staffordshire, UK
Posts: 712
I am going to my second meeting tonight and can't emphasise enough that it is NOT a cult! It is however for those who really want to stop drinking! I have done nothing but read every spare second I have this week and it has really worked for me! The Big book and 12 steps are commonk sense and realign your thinking if yu keep an open mind.
I was scared initially as I identify as a pagan, but it really doesn't matter, you beleive what you beleive and if you don't beleive in a higher power then use the energy of the group as the higher power, no religion required. god is who you want them to be!
One thing is for sure, I couldn't do it without AA now!
I was scared initially as I identify as a pagan, but it really doesn't matter, you beleive what you beleive and if you don't beleive in a higher power then use the energy of the group as the higher power, no religion required. god is who you want them to be!
One thing is for sure, I couldn't do it without AA now!
Administrator
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just a reminder folks
Dee
Moderator
SR
Please Read! The Newcomers Forum is a safe and welcoming place for newcomers. Respect is essential. Debates over Recovery Methods are not allowed on the Newcomer's Forum. Posts that violate this rule will be removed without notice. (Support and experience only please.)
Moderator
SR
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Washington, MO
Posts: 2,306
So go to some meetings and find out first-hand. I heard the polar caps were flipping back in Dec. 2012 and lotsa mayhem would ensue...I told a cel phone salesman back in '96 that "texting" was devolution and would never fly...People can be wrong--even me.
A Day at a Time
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
I will never understand the endless discussion of AA. Go to a meeting if it helps you stay sober keep going if not find something that does.
Sobriety is about things work not things that don't
Sobriety is about things work not things that don't
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
Originally Posted by FormerDrunkGuy 
Please don't take this the wrong way, and I realize this is controversial but AA at times appears to be almost a religion in itself...or in some way almost cult like in it's following.
I am not a religious man myself and i am just honestly curious, can this type of thing be a problem at AA meetings?
I am not a religious man myself and i am just honestly curious, can this type of thing be a problem at AA meetings?
When one truly seeks information without preconceived ideas, perhaps they may ask - What is your AA experience like and does religion get in the way??
Anyway, I am not sure if you have preconceived ideas or not - you don't say, thinking about going to AA and simply post just curious. So either it's a question of just fodder for the brain - that's fine, or perhaps there is some desire to perhaps go to AA?
Regardless, my experience is/has been very favorable. There is a fellowship of other drunks and program that has helped me on the path to sobriety. Longest period of abstinence in over 30 years - today is 4 months!
Like other stated, check it out for yourself IF that is really the question you have. For me and others, there is BIG difference between building a state in inner self through meditation that develops a sense of spirituality. I consider myself today on a path of spiritual progress, not perfection. Haven't been to a church in a very long time......
I will comment that on a post you made 8/2/2014 - "I am committed to quitting drinking and will do whatever i can to make that happen."
Well, the balls in your court!
SR and AA provide me the tools I need, TODAY to keep fighting this deadly disease. If I die today, by grace - I will be sober!
peace, I hope you find what you seek.
Fly
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 9,029
When I first started attending AA meetings I was looking to find fault because I didn't want to admit I was an alcoholic. So I didn't seriously attend and I therefore shut out the opportunity to build a support network. I didn't stay sober very long and continued drinking.
What DoubleBarrel said is what I have found to be true in my experience. Some people dive in and make it their life because otherwise they have no social outlet other than the bar. Have you ever known someone who is zealous in an organization? From the PTA mom who is always there and always carrying the message and fundraising everyone to death, to the baseball fan who shows up to every game, rain or shine, and knows every statistic? These few members keep the fires burning and the coffee pot going for the rest of us who aren't so zealous. They are the backbone of any organization.
I've googled The Orange Papers and AA cult watch and what those people write is frightening to read but I've not found it to be true. I go to AA. I'm not a zealot. When it says "carry the message to other alcoholics" it doesn't mean standing on a street corner and handing out tracts or knocking on doors and forcing literature on people or kidnapping them and forcing sobriety down their throats. And I certainly wouldn't do that ever in my life if asked to. It's a society of attraction for people who want to stay sober.
Attend a few meetings to see if you like it. But with an open mind. If you don't like it, you don't have to go back. And no one will make you return. I've found it helpful and I have ten months now.
What DoubleBarrel said is what I have found to be true in my experience. Some people dive in and make it their life because otherwise they have no social outlet other than the bar. Have you ever known someone who is zealous in an organization? From the PTA mom who is always there and always carrying the message and fundraising everyone to death, to the baseball fan who shows up to every game, rain or shine, and knows every statistic? These few members keep the fires burning and the coffee pot going for the rest of us who aren't so zealous. They are the backbone of any organization.
I've googled The Orange Papers and AA cult watch and what those people write is frightening to read but I've not found it to be true. I go to AA. I'm not a zealot. When it says "carry the message to other alcoholics" it doesn't mean standing on a street corner and handing out tracts or knocking on doors and forcing literature on people or kidnapping them and forcing sobriety down their throats. And I certainly wouldn't do that ever in my life if asked to. It's a society of attraction for people who want to stay sober.
Attend a few meetings to see if you like it. But with an open mind. If you don't like it, you don't have to go back. And no one will make you return. I've found it helpful and I have ten months now.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,445
Originally Posted by heath480
No it is not a cult.I also get fed up of discussions about AA,not helpful for a newcomer seeking sobriety.
Rightly or wrongly, a lot people are scared of AA and I suspect a lot of folks may be looking for any reason not to use it.
If the AA guys and gals here post and show them it's ok, that normal people are in AA and there's no robes, secret handshakes or high masses, I think ultimately threads like these - genuine queries about something a lot of people know next to nothing about - can become positive exchanges of ideas?
D
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: C.C. Ma.
Posts: 3,697
I find it very interesting there is so much ignorance within the general population along with preconceived ideas about what AA does or does not do.
Primarily it’s millions of alcoholics trying to help each other sober.
It’s not a job recruiter, except for coffee maker etc, money lender, house hunter, lawyer, car fixer, medical adviser and on and on. BUT many of these things become doable with recovery.
There are things that evolved over the years that I’m not partial to, like holding hands at the end of the meetings. I have a choice, I don’t reject AA as a whole, I can just step back and don’t participate or leave early. Other things I may not like, I either accept or not go back to that particular meeting. We need to be careful about that one because being alcoholic we can easily find things we don’t like and end up meetingless.
Names, words and labels usually are excuses to revert back to our way of thinking and practices that got us here in the first place. AA and other methods will work IF we continue to work those methods. The problem is so many slip away after a period of better living and can’t/don’t come back. JMO
BE WELL
Primarily it’s millions of alcoholics trying to help each other sober.
It’s not a job recruiter, except for coffee maker etc, money lender, house hunter, lawyer, car fixer, medical adviser and on and on. BUT many of these things become doable with recovery.
There are things that evolved over the years that I’m not partial to, like holding hands at the end of the meetings. I have a choice, I don’t reject AA as a whole, I can just step back and don’t participate or leave early. Other things I may not like, I either accept or not go back to that particular meeting. We need to be careful about that one because being alcoholic we can easily find things we don’t like and end up meetingless.
Names, words and labels usually are excuses to revert back to our way of thinking and practices that got us here in the first place. AA and other methods will work IF we continue to work those methods. The problem is so many slip away after a period of better living and can’t/don’t come back. JMO
BE WELL
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 4,225
Originally Posted by IOAA2
I find it very interesting there is so much ignorance within the general population along with preconceived ideas about what AA does or does not do.
I would never call that ignorance. Perhaps a misconception, but a bit harsh to say ignorance in the newcomers section where people are genuinely seeking answers.
I'm sure we are all are not across many topics until we seek out answers, which the OP is doing and very nicely said he did not wish to for people to take it the wrong way at the beginning of his post.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: C.C. Ma.
Posts: 3,697
Croissant many people think the word ignorance is a dirty word or demeaning. I am ignorant of far greater numbers of things than knowledgeable. No one would want me to do their brain surgery or pilot their next jet flight because I’m ignorant of those workings.
I remember the term “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” when I first came around. Today it seems many have the answers when they first think about their problem and often just say I won’t go to AA. probably because of fears developed when drinking with drinking buddies in that institution of education – their favorite bar, I don’t know.
I go by this explanation:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorance
Wikipedia
Loading...
Ignorance is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge). The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware.
BE WELL
I remember the term “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” when I first came around. Today it seems many have the answers when they first think about their problem and often just say I won’t go to AA. probably because of fears developed when drinking with drinking buddies in that institution of education – their favorite bar, I don’t know.
I go by this explanation:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorance
Wikipedia
Loading...
Ignorance is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge). The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware.
BE WELL
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