"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A. A. ought never be drawn into controversy."
I have issues that I support. I have opinions. I have resentments. I have pet projects. I have agendas. They have no business in A. A.
The hot topics of today may cause me some grief, and used to be an excuse for me to get drunk, but I have never been to an A. A. meeting where these issues are solved.
If Alcoholics Anonymous® took a stance on a social, political, spiritual, or legal matter that I opposed or supported, I shudder to think of the conflict that would be caused within our fellowship.
This very neutrality has caused conflict because at times, but it is not the business of A. A. to dictate social behavior or political correctness. A. A. exists for one reason alone…to help we alcoholics from taking another drink.
Within The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous® and The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous®, the guidelines that are set out for us to follow are suggested because they work. Bill W. and the rest of the original A. A. members had all tried to sober up without any lasting success until they found what worked. And what worked didn't have anything to do with changing the outside world.
Found in my own experience that I had little power over people, places, and things.
Tradition Eleven |
