Atheism

In my experience AA tries to exchange ones addiction to alcohol to an addiction to religion. I've noted the most feverously religious people I know became that way after AA. Religion preys on the most susceptible.

I put up with it for long enough to get the help I needed, but I can't stand it either. At least there were enough supportive people with actual advice kicking around. I can't attest to every community, but if you want it bad enough, it's probably worth the price of admission for the few months it takes to break the habit.

I got three years a couple months ago, and I'm not sure I would have made it without the support, but I also regret that the program teaches that you don't have the power to do it without god, just a fun reminder of how these people prey on the vulnerable.

I'm sorry about your friend, I know my life could have ended the same way pretty easily the way I was going.

I've long complained that Christians push the queer community to the bottle then sell us their god as the solution.

The fact that one of the few institutions that exists independently to help people to get free of the crippling addiction to alcohol does so by shoving god down your throat is such an amazing let down.

Dunno if it helps at all, but the success rate for people who go through AA is the same rate as people who do it by themselves.

Well, there's different levels of christianity at different chapters. I found a chapter that was mostly atheists and would only refer to a "higher power" and even then was like "look really it just means you can't just think about what you want, because you want to get drunk and it's killing you.".

So, you have to think about something greater than whatever itch you have in the moment, if you want to live.

Sorry for the loss of your friend.

He allegedly killed everything on the planet except for two of each creature, amongst a slew of other murders.

Credit where credit is due. Going by newton.marvel’s logic, god gave OP alcoholism.

One day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I'm sure you'll agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature's wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.

-Sir Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

I think it's entirely possible that there are entities more intelligent than humans (let's face it the bar isn't very high) but I think that's different to "higher intelligence" an entity of God like capability, I don't think that high IQ necessarily grants you access to alter the fundamental laws of reality.

Have you read the Bible? Their God is a malignantly narcissistic tyrant.

That’s true. My wife has been sober for more than a year now. She went to AA meetings and did therapy. We are both atheist, and she really hated the religious part of the AA program, but talking with people that went through similar experiences really helped her.

in the US religion, specifically Christians, have a corner on "healing".

want to talk to a therapist? they'll always bring up God or a higher power.

want to talk to a doctor? they work at a facility that's affiliated with a religious doctrine.

need to have surgery? it's a a faith based hospital.

want to get sober? enjoy the calming sounds of the Bible being thumped over your head.

now, there are exceptions to this, but the majority stands that religious belief is a cornerstone to all health and medical facilities in America.

it's really fucked up when you think about it. Imagine going in for surgery and someone comes in to start praying for a successful operation. like...that doesn't give me the highest vote of confidence in the knowledge and talents of the staff that's literally going to cut me open from belly to sternum and peak around at what even I have never seen.

Addiction is mostly away to avoid thinking or feeling about something. “Getting better” is a combination of resolving current situations, tolerating the internal distress, and learning new, healthy ways to deal.

I'm not a fan of bundling this under “medicine” since I think it has as much more to do with philosophy, spirituality, and psycology than biochemistry, but adding medicine to control physical cravings certainly helps.

Does he get credited with the alcoholism too? Why curse so many people with that when they drink themselves to death?

God gives humans free will

Humans do things with free will

Humans: Thank God!

This reminds me of when the first flotilla provided enough of a distraction that Palestinian in Gaza managed to fish for a bit without getting caught, and the top comment under the post said "God is best planner"

"God works in mysterious ways... " Me after stink up the bathroom at the supermarket.

But it says its alcohol free beer on the bottle?

Not the original by any stretch. The story is that he made the wine because they ran out of wine while the party was still going. He just didn't want his friend's wedding reception to flop. But the host was still somewhat embarrassed because everybody liked the new wine so much more and said "hey dummy, don't you know you're supposed to serve the quality wine first, and the shit wine after we're too drunk to care?"

Pretty sure we were guzzling hooch since those first monkeys discovered a pile of half rotten fruit, ate it, vomited, then ate the rest and woke up with a prehistoric hangover. JC was just a garden variety bootlegger