Alcoholics anonymous, commonly referred to simply as “AA”, is a religiously themed 12-step sobriety program.
When someone's alcohol addiction finds them in a court room, it's likely that they will be ordered to attend AA meetings by that court of law. Did you get that? The United States government will force someone to participate in a religiously themed program. The Unites States constitution has a very clear position on this.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Amendment 1, US Constitution
http://957chatterton.blogspot.com/2012/05/united-states-government-secular-or.html
When a judge court-orders someone to AA meetings, they are blatantly violating the United States constitution by demanding that someone obey the following 12 steps.
1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
[noun] Self-efficacy: A person's belief in his/her own competence.
The person must admit and accept that they are incompetent to control their own lives. Rather than trying to strengthen their will power, they are told that they can't. This is malproductive to overcoming an addiction but breaking down someone's self-efficacy weakens them to make indoctrination easier. The fact that alcoholics are already relatively vulnerable makes than an indoctrination goldmine.
2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
The very second step is to accept the existence of a god. AA may say that it doesn't have to be a god, that it could be some "spiritual power" and, yet, "Let go, let God." is one of many AA slogans.
We must believe or pretend to believe in a god in order to pass AA. That's bad news for court-ordered secularists.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
In other words, you are not allowed to not believe in a god. Imagine a judge ordering you to believe in a god or go to jail.
4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
I like this one. We should perform introspection and see where our moral judgment and our moral actions have been inept. Drunk or sober, I think everyone should do this.
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
This simply translates to "take accountability." The only part of this that's wrong is the "God" part. Phrasing may not seem significant but it is still an endorsement of theism, something a judge shouldn't order.
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
I would just be repeating myself.
7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
They would just be repeating themselves.
8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
I would just be repeating what they said.
9) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
I have no problem with this one either.
10) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Okay, I simply copied and pasted this list and I have to say it. Apparently sobriety does not improve punctuation. Goddamn!
11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
You are asked to participate in religious rituals BY ORDER OF A US JUDGE!
12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
This last step essentially means that you are supposed to proselytize about a religious organization to vulnerable people.
Conclusion:
One may say, "So, it violates the separation of church and state; if it works, it works!" Does it work? Alcoholics Anonymous doesn't publish their results but countless studies have shown their success rate to be, more or less, 5%. Now, the percentage of people who recover via spontaneous remission is, more or less, 5%. What do you get when you subtract the number of people who quit drinking naturally from the number of people who recover while attending AA meetings? Zero percent! It does not work!
The AA twelve step program does not work because it teaches people that they couldn't overpower their addiction by themselves, even though their success rate is the same as those who overpower their addiction by themselves.
Why so our judges, who are sworn to uphold the constitution, sending people to religious program that doesn't work? Maybe it's because they feel that rehabilitation is better than incarceration and they know of know other alcohol rehabilitation organization than Alcoholics Anonymous. Come to think of it, can you name one single alternative? I couldn't so I did some research and I found the Secular Organizations for Sobriety, or simply "S.O.S".
If you know someone who needs help with their addiction or if you frequently bribe judges, tell them about S.O.S.
http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/index.htm
http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/find.htm
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