The 12 step program and God

[Questioninggeller]

I was reflecting on this after watching a Osbournes episode. Okay, Ozzy was [surpirse] drinking a lot/ too much when his wife Sharon was sick and has never been able to get and stay sober. In this particular episode (I saw it once at a friends house/I don't have cable TV) Ozzy was meeting with a former addict and everytime the woman said Jesus (referring to devine inspiration) he got up to get food or stretch. He did this at least 8 times during the talk.

Anyway my question was, I noticed the 12 step program is designed for people to accept the idea of God at the end of the program. http://healthcenter.ucdavis.edu/twelvestep.html

The 12 Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove 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 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.
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.

Why do must someone believe in God at the end of the program to remain sober? It seems very odd, because if an atheist wanted to get sober through this method would it mean he would have a much harder time to kick his/her habit?

I've always looked at the 12 step program as being drawn out by the Christian belief, much like many recovery programs are.

 

[Torment]

Interesting how you brought this up when you did. There was a thread about it just yesterday on Banter.

http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19770