📢A.A. Part Two: Reader Feedback
Let justice roll down like waters.
Amos 5:24
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Last week’s email about A.A. generated a LOT of responses.
I read every email that comes in and try to each one. Always grateful for your thoughts and engagement.
The responses I received underscore an important point, the experiences people have with A.A. are just as diverse as the experiences people have with attending church.
Some people have experienced a life-giving community of hope and acceptance; others alienation and judgement.
The best research we have shows participation in the program is effective at helping people obtain and sustain abstinence. But research also suggests that what is driving the positive change is not the substance of the 12-Steps, but the existence of a supportive community of shared practical wisdom.
This reminds me of the teachings of Jesus. “The law” is not the point. It isn’t where change and transformation happen.
When Jesus was criticized for breaking the Sabbath rules, he argued that God did not make us for the Sabbath but the Sabbath is for us. We weren’t created to serve the 12-Steps, the 12-Steps were created as one way to serve us in our path to growth.
It’s easy to get the two flipped in Christianity and in the recovery community.
Knowing the difference requires a lot of reflection and discernment. There are many teachings of scripture that require wisdom and insight of if or when they should apply.
At certain times in my life, I’ve taken great hope in my belief that “God works all things together for good.” I’ve also had a few times amid loss where I’ve heard those words as a vague Christian platitude that ignores the reality of my pain.
I love Father Richard Rohr’s Breathing Underwater and benefitted greatly from exploring my powerlessness and the connection of that lesson to the Christian mystical tradition.
But when it came to my own struggle with an opioid use disorder, I didn’t need to hear that I was powerless over my addiction.
What I needed was some motivational enhancement therapy and the lessons of cognitive behavioral therapy. These two approaches helped me develop concrete strategies for identifying my cravings and reducing my use over time.
We humans are a complex bunch. What is true for one of us might not be true for the next. And sometimes what is true at one period in our lives won’t be true in another.
Thanks again to all who responded and hope you enjoy the variety of perspectives we’ve included the feedback below.
Keep the faith,
Timothy McMahan King
Senior Fellow, Clergy for a New Drug Policy
Anonymous
“Stop. Please stop.”
We won’t stop but we can unsubscribe you!
Friendly Pushback
Don wrote in with some friendly pushback,
“I am not a member of AA but I have worked the field for many years. AA is a program of attraction not forced upon anyone. AA members don’t force anyone to follow their belief system but rather they share what they have done and what has worked for them.”
He also noted,
“I reckon harm reduction is a path not THE path.”
Don has a really important point here. The same challenges I’ve pointed out with A.A. could be true of harm reduction or other approaches. Unhelpful dogmatism can sneak in a lot of different places.
Indigenous Approaches
Ann Dapice, a member of the Menominee and Lenape tribes, wrote about alternative treatment models and approaches for tribal members when “we saw the trauma and suicides resulting when people were doing the 12 Steps faithfully without results… Addiction issues are critical and must be addressed.”
Indigenous groups currently have the highest rates of overdose in the country and have not always seen positive results with the 12-Step approach. Ann has been exploring alternative models I’m excited to learn more about.
Center of Addiction & Faith
Rev. Ed Treat, Executive Director, Center of Addiction and Faith wrote:
“While I am myself steeped gratefully in the AA tradition, I do know there are a lot of people out there who struggle with addiction to alcohol and other drugs for which AA is not the answer.”
Ed often speaks to another point I find important, that there are a lot churches out there that could benefit from being more like an A.A. meeting!
Faith-Based Recovery
Another reader wrote about faith-based recovery more broadly:
“It's NUTS to me that Christians hold to salvation by grace alone, but turn around to a transactional approach with addiction treatment and faith. Love that you point out how it violates not just the government's role as a neutral party, but our faith. What a disaster to coerce people into faith by holding their sobriety over their heads.
I don't get it, but like you I've seen AA be really helpful in people's lives. But it also sets them up to be super resistant to anyone else taking another path, because if you're open to other paths it's a sign you're about to relapse. It's tough.”
Celebrate Recovery
Another reader emphasized Celebrate Recovery that is explicitly Christian and has been helpful in many evangelical Christian communities:
“I believe in a Holistic Approach to Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention.
Celebrate Recovery is good as it uses the Beatitudes as it's foundation.
I have visited two churches that use this strategy, and helped many. Government must diversify and support other alternatives to AA.
One size doesn't fit all!
We have a public health and safety crises, we must bring God's Church to the table now!”
Helped Then Hurt
Finally, another shared a story of both being helped, but then later hurt by an A.A. community:
“Right on the money, regarding A.A. It helped me in the beginning to know that I was not alone, and to raise my awareness about how in childhood I learned how to drink from my family (Irish-German) and religion of origin: Catholicism. But after a while, A.A. became like a cult where people started shunning you and programming you to fail if you didn't walk like they walked and talked like they talked. In the end, I had to leave it because I saw and heard too many people getting programmed into thinking that if they picked up one drink, they would end up in jail, a hospital, or a grave.
Sad, but true.”