Alcoholics Anonymous has a terrible success rate, addiction expert finds

[Warren DeMontague]

181. I would only take issue with where you say "it may be only one way of many other ways"... There is

no "may". There ARE other ways that work for people, do work, have worked.

Telling people that the only reason they aren't happy in AA, or that they mind "hearing about God", or that they are unwilling to convert to a different belief system or reconcile with some semantically palatable version of a mystical force-- telling them that that is because they are unwilling to try hard enough with the ONLY way that works, that they are doomed to 'convert or die' - that is unconscionable, and that is what some people in this thread with experience around this, I believe, are voicing their objection to.

I don't dispute that AA saves many lives, that it works for many people, that even some Atheists or other 'problematic' cases can figure out a way to reconcile themselves with the admittedly core religiosity or spirituality of the program. No doubt, many can and do. And certainly I wouldn't second-guess anyone else's path.

However, one size does NOT fit all. There is no "may be". 12 Step Dogma - it exists, whether or not it is promoted as much as it used to be - that says the steps are the ONLY way to "real" sobriety, is simply not true, not factually correct, not borne out by the experiences of many who have walked a different way, happily, joyously, and freely, even.

Telling people they need to accept AA or die, like I said- I think that's unconscionable. Maybe that is true for some folks, but for fuck's sake folks should acknowledge that there are other programs and methodologies out there, like SMART, LSR, Rational Recovery, Secular Organizations for Sobriety, etc. If the 12 steppers are right, the other programs won't work anyway, so why not hand them a pamphlet or two on the way out the door? A Secular Recovery group, for instance, can't possibly hurt them any more than dying in a gutter would, right?

Like the song says, So Many Roads.

Also, just FYI: It's "half a cup", not "have a cup"