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keeping the good, but getting the God out of AA

SOS Does Not Use Steps

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Maybe you have no choice but to attend AA or other 12 Step meetings and find the religious character of the group difficult to handle.

If you have an especially "fundamentalist group" and are in despair, don’t worry many have survived this and continue to survive it.

Moreover, it may be better to stay in some sort of group, than none at all if it's a requirement of some kind
.
If you don’t have an SOS group nearby and don’t feel like starting one, here are several secularized versions of the AA Steps below that may help you.

Most agnostic, atheist or people of other faiths in AA say they tend to close their ears to the "God talk", smile and take the best and most useful things they can.

This is one approach as it may be mandatory to attend AA. 

Some SOS people also like to attend AA simultaneously and/or choose to work an adapted form of the Steps in a secular form.

 Although SOS does NOT follow a "Secular Steps" method, it also does not adopt a judgmental attitude to members or non-members who wish to.

Whatever works for you!

We hope this info maybe of use, but this web site is not actually recommending these versions, only providing information on the possibilities.
 

Below  is a version of the AA Twelve Steps  translated by an AA "Agnostics" group.

You may find that some of the Steps are the same and that there are also references to spirituality included. Depending on your own persuasions, you may wish to edit them further.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe and to accept that we needed strengths beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to entrust our wills and our lives to the care of the collective wisdom and resources of those who have searched before us.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to ourselves, without reservation, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. We are ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character.

7. With humility and openness sought to eliminate our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through meditation to improve our spiritual awareness and our understanding of the AA way of life and to discover the power to carry out that way of life.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principals in all our affairs.

Humanist Steps

 Below is another version of secularized steps created by the renowned behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner and first published in "The Humanist".

1. We accept the fact that all our efforts to stop drinking have failed.

2. We believe that we must turn elsewhere for help.

3. We turn to our fellow men and women, particularly those who have struggled with the same problem.

4. We have made a list of the situations in which we are most likely to drink.

5. We ask our friends to help us avoid those situations.

6. We are ready to accept the help they give us.

7. We honestly hope they will help.

8. We have made a list of the persons we have harmed and to whom we hope to make amends.

9. We shall do all we can to make amends, in any way that will not cause further harm.

10. We will continue to make such lists and revise them as needed.

11. We appreciate what our friends have done and are doing to help us.

12. We, in turn, are ready to help others who may come to us in the same way.

For more information on
SOS & AA,
 Secular AA Slogans
For more info on SOS methods
Sobriety tools
 The Sobriety Priority
 "Closing the Gap"

 

 

 

 

 

 
SOS Does Not Use Steps

12 Statements

I have constructed, borrowing from other sources, my own works in progress version of AA's 12 Steps. I am looking forward to integrating new ideas. "Sharing" my Twelve Statements as follows:

1. I have a life threatening problem. My past efforts to establish sobriety have been unsuccessful. I believe that I have choices and that my life no longer need be unmanageable. I accept responsibility for myself and my recovery.

2. I believe that a power within myself in tandem with supports and strengths beyond my own awareness and resources can restore me to a healthier, more balanced, and positive state of mind, body and soul.

3. I make a decision to entrust my will and life to the care of myself, the collective wisdom of those who have struggled with the same problem, and those in support of me.

4. I make a searching and fearless inventory of myself, of my strengths and weaknesses. I choose not to permit problems to overwhelm me, rather to focus on personal growth and the unconditional acceptance of others and myself.

5. I admit to myself, and if I choose, to another person or persons the exact nature of the negative, injurious aspects of my thinking and behavior. I explore the goodness within myself: the positive, courageous, and compassionate.

6. I focus on healing, abolishing self-blame and shame, and understanding the boundaries of my responsibilities. I remain open to the help and support of others as I address the challenge of change.

7. I embrace introspection and work towards alleviating my shortcomings. I strive for personal growth and fulfillment over perfection, and to become integrated with collective humanness.

 8. I will consider those that I have harmed and those that have harmed me. I will become willing to explore my feelings regarding those harms.

9. I will make direct amends, as I deem appropriate and not injurious, to those whom I have harmed or negatively impacted and to myself.

10. I will continue sincere and meaningful self-evaluation, and strive for personal betterment.

11. I will seek to improve my awareness and understanding of myself, my addiction, and of other individuals and organizations with the common goal of arresting alcohol addiction.

12. With newfound acceptance and insight I will try to keep awareness, and compassion for others and myself, in the fore.

Signed:
A SOS Member.
SOS Does Not Use Steps

THE 12 (suggested) STEPS OF 
12 STEP FREE

1. We admitted we could exert significant power in our lives - that our lives can become very manageable.

2. Came to believe that exerting our power could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to use our will meaningfully.

4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of our strengths.

5. Admitted to ourselves and to other human beings where appropriate the exact nature of the good in us.

6. Were entirely ready to remove from our lives all unsavory characters with excessive defects.

7. Humbly asked ourselves to forgive our own shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we wanted out of our lives and became willing to pay the price in shunning and rejection from them all.

9. Made direct amends to ourselves for falling for stepper hype.
10. Continued to take personal inventory of our strengths and when we found a new one promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through posting on 12SF and new activities and new friendships to improve our conscious contact with real human beings as we understood them, posting only for knowledge of how people can screw you over and the power to move on.

12. Having had a newfound awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message of true friendliness to people of our choosing and to practice these principles in all our affairs - if we choose to have affairs.

Signed 
From "Cert" / Member in Good Standing of 12 Step Free
SOS Does Not Use Steps