Other Secular Recovery Online Resources

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AZ Secular AA is a loosely organized ever-changing group of individuals throughout Arizona that provides a presence to support the secular AA community in Arizona.

Our goal is to work toward an acceptance of AA meetings that "endeavor to maintain a tradition of free expression where alcoholics may feel free to express any doubts or disbeliefs they may have and to share their own personal form of spiritual experience, their search for it, or their rejection of it. In keeping with A.A. tradition, we do not endorse or oppose any form of religion or atheism. Our only wish is to ensure suffering alcoholics that they can find sobriety in A.A. without having to accept anyone else's beliefs, or having to deny their own" (from the Beyond Belief Meeting Format).

Brown Baggers Group was created in 1994 and ran as a fairly “traditional” meeting for about 20 years. Realizing that there were incongruities between what AA “said” and what it did, a group conscious decision was made to close our meetings with the AA Responsibility Statement.

This was the beginning.  We continued to make decisions at group business meetings to enhance our policy of inclusiveness. As of January 2020, Brown Baggers became officially listed as a Secular AA group.

We created a statement that is read at every meeting:

“In the true spirit of our Steps and Traditions, we at Brown Baggers, encourage everyone here to share their truth as it is for them pertaining to their recovery.  And to do so without fear of judgment or censure.  We feel that if it is within a member, it belongs within this room.  We respect and welcome all points of view and paths to spirituality as well as our individual right to introduce ourselves as we feel comfortable.  We honor the concepts of freedom of choice and speech.  We ask that all those attending our meetings do the same so that we may all learn from each other and grow together in recovery. Thank you.”

This website is here primarily to encourage members of Alcoholics Anonymous to establish more secular meetings of A.A. in Michigan.   Currently, there are ten A.A. groups in Michigan that identify themselves as secular and fourteen secular meetings of A.A. weekly in the state.  There are hundreds worldwide.

This website is administered by Eric C. from Suttons Bay, Michigan.  Eric has been a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous since Jan. 10, 1983.

Eric’s story is featured in the October 2017 edition of the A.A. Grapevine magazine and in the 2018 Grapevine book A.A. in the Military under the title “Incoming!”

Secular A.A. is an international movement within Alcoholics Anonymous that seeks to widen our gateway so that all who suffer from alcoholism may feel free to join us and maintain long-term sobriety in A.A. “regardless of their belief or lack of belief”* in a God. 

The secular A.A. movement traces its roots to one of A.A.’s first atheists, Jimmy B., who helped convince A.A. co-founder Bill W. to substitute the term “Higher Power” for God and add the words “as we understood Him” in a few places in our Big Book.  Jimmy B. was also a driving force behind our Third Tradition:  “The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.”

Anyone with a desire to stop drinking is welcome to attend secular meetings of A.A.  or even start  A.A. groups that identify themselves as secular.

Freethinking Recovery

In Freethinkers Recovery, you are free to have your own beliefs, but we do not emphasize any particular view.

We do not open or close our meetings with prayer. Our main purpose is to recover and to help others who want recovery in their life.

At Tús Nua everyone is welcome, you are welcome regardless of what you believe or don’t believe. Come late, leave early.

 Our website is not affiliated with A.A, N.A or CoDA.

You can listen back to some of the speakers at our meetings and also interviews with people in 12 step recovery on our website.  We have also converted all the speaker recordings into podcasts as it gives a better playback experience.

Welcome to Secular Overeaters

You are not alone. 

For atheists, agnostics, and others with different spiritual or religious beliefs beyond the mainstream, “the god thing” in Overeaters Anonymous (OA)* can be hard to navigate. Theist solutions and patriarchal language in OA materials and at traditional meetings can create serious barriers to recovery.  

Members who have decades of success working in a secular OA program are here to share their experience of recovery from compulsive food behaviors—independent of religious beliefs and never having to “act as if” they believe in things they don’t.

Recovery is about healing the human spirit. Your options may vary, but no gods or miracles are required!

Secular Overeaters is an informal community and resource hub created to support the physical, emotional, and integrative recovery of Overeaters Anonymous members and others who don’t identify with the traditional Twelve-Step presentation of god. We recognize that theist and patriarchal language can not only alienate but also cause additional harm to many who come to the rooms seeking relief from compulsive eating and food behaviors. Our mission is to provide secular resources, including literature, podcasts, workshops, meeting listings, and fellowship. Most importantly, we strive to be a safe, inclusive space for secular overeaters as we support each other on the lifelong journey of recovery.

https://secularovereaters.org

What Is Quad-A?

A.A. Members, especially newcomers, are urged to attend various meetings to find the meetings that are the most helpful to them. All A.A. Meetings have their own special characteristics. Quad-A is a collection of AA group meetings attended mostly by atheists, agnostics, and humanists in the greater Chicago area; however, anyone with a desire to stop drinking is welcome. Quad A is NOT separate from "general" AA- it's just a fellowship of these particular meetings that share this website so folks can find the meetings easily if they are interested in checking out secular AA meetings in the area.

Quad-A meetings function no differently than other A.A. Meetings—allowing recovering alcoholics to gather on a regular basis as autonomous groups using the suggested Twelve Steps for the individual and the Twelve Traditions for the group as the foundation for recovery and spiritual growth. We share and learn how to live sober and rewarding lives. Like all A.A. Meetings, Quad-A meetings are for all people with a desire to stop drinking. There are no further qualifiers or disqualifiers

"To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all-inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all..." (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 46).

Quad-A acknowledges recovering persons may have valid and fulfilling sobriety with or without belief in a Higher Power as traditionally understood. For many regular Quad-A meeting-goers, the "Power greater than ourselves" and "God as we understood Him" are interpreted by the individual or ignored altogether. For some of us, it is A.A. itself or the group. Our members have been reared with and without many different forms of religious training; we prefer to refrain from proselytizing for or against any particular creed. We accept the beliefs of the individual without contempt, condescension, or approbation.

The first meeting of the Mostly Agnostics of San Antonio AA group was in September of 2014, but like any AA group, how and why it came to be is a story in itself. It is said in AA that all you need to start a new meeting is a coffee pot and a resentment, which sounds cynical, but it's actually a lighthearted jab that is more of a celebration of AA’s resiliency and its ability to turn human shortcomings into assets than it is a criticism. 

Whatever the motives, the proliferation of new and different groups is central to AA’s success. AA owes its effectiveness in no small part to the diversity of its groups. Each group has a unique ability to reach certain individuals, which illustrates the importance of the fourth tradition (“Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.”), probably the most underappreciated AA Tradition. Without group autonomy, AA would lack the adaptability that makes it accessible to so many disparate individuals. 

AA is not a one-size-fits-all solution. What works for one person might completely turn someone else off, so rather than expecting to conform to set norms, AA gives individuals the freedom to choose what works for them. It’s been said that for every nut that ends up in AA, there’s a wrench that is the right size to fit. That happens through one-on-one relationships, but the diversity of the groups plays a big part. 

Each group has its own identity. The wording of AA’s fifth tradition suggests that each group even has its own distinct message: “Each group has but one primary purpose— to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.” Individual groups, by tailoring how they talk about recovery, are able to be responsive to specific needs. 

In short, secular groups are the epitome of AA’s commitment to accessibility. 

La reunión de at@os y agnóstic@os es un intento por mantener una tradición de libre expresión, y llevar a cabo una reunión donde las(os) alcohólicas/os puedan sentir y expresar cualquier duda o incredulidad que puedan tner, y compartir su propia forma personal de experiencia espiritual, su búsqueda o su rechazo de esta. No respaldamos ni nos oponemos a ninguna forma de religión o ateísmo.

Nuestro único propósito es asegurar a las(os) alcohólicas/os que sufren que puedan encontrar la sobriedad en A.A. sin tener que aceptar las creencias de nadie más o tener que negar las propias.

¿Quieres hacer algo con respecto a tu manera de beber?

contacto@ateosyagnosticosenespanol-aa.org

Nos pondremos en contacto contigo

En la sección de horarios puedes entrar a una de nuestras juntas, son gratis, y puedes conservar tu anonimato.

A.A. te ofrece una solución si quieres parar de beber.

 No one should suffer alone. If you seek healthy relationships with yourself and others, we would like to offer our friendship and support as we work together toward our goals. We are overcoming the challenges of our codependent thoughts and behaviors, getting better each day through community social support, self-improvement, and self-compassion. We are each on our own personal journey of recovery and invite you to join us. 

We are a fellowship of individuals recovering from codependency. We have decided to pursue a secular recovery from codependency. We take inspiration from all sources and focus our efforts on our own choices and what we can learn to develop new healthy behaviors to overcome our self-destructive patterns. Many of us have found traditional programs for recovery to be religious in tone and prefer an environment where we can feel free to express ourselves whether we believe in God or not.

http://atheistcodependent.com/

Worldwide Secular Meetings:   

 A list of worldwide secular meetings compiled from various online sources. It also includes 24/7 meetings, which are not secular, but may be helpful. This list is provided as a service for information only and aims to be inclusive rather than exclusive when including multiple Fellowships and meeting styles.

Secular Recovery Meeting List   

Google Doc Sheet listing daily secular recovery meetings.