Nefarious Plan

[Guest guest]

miken-@... wrote:

> I'm really curious as to the motive behind AAs nefarious plane.

Mike, for the most part, it's probably not so " nefarious. " A lot of AAs

have bought into the notion that there really is this huge gulf between

" spiritual " and " religious, " so when they say AA isn't a religion,

they're not necessarily lying -- from their own perspective. What they

don't realize, or have forgotten, is that to the outside world

" religion " and " spirituality " are all but synonymous.

Some people in AA know perfectly well that they are pitching religion,

but they keep that angle hidden through various verbal sleights of hand

because they think that spirituality is the only hope for the

alcoholic. Their intentions are probably good, just like the Jehovah's

Witnesses who come to your door and try to get you to let them give you

a copy of The Watchtower. The fact that they're trying to " help " you

makes the trickery justified in their minds.

And then there are the AA members who really are jerks. They want a

constant stream of newcomers who they can either 13th-Step or

humiliate. Or manipulate to stroke their own egos. Some of these folks

are religious zealots who like having a semi-captive audience they can

terrorize. Problem is, the nicer members of AA rarely do anything to

rein these monsters in.