Agnostic and Atheist Groups are back in AA

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Alcoholics Anonymous with no God

Demographic shifts in America and Canada make for more modern 12-Step Fellowships such as Online Gaming Anonymous, Teen Addictions Anonymous, and Tech Addiction Anonymous, have adapted the 12-Steps to a newcomer with a greater thirst for recovery in a more modern narrative. Atheists, humanists, Buddhists, Taoists, agnostics, don’t always find “God as we understand HIM” to be as inclusive as the authors intended back in 1939.

Recently atheists and agnostics have been in the news.

Toronto Intergroup de-listed AA groups back in 2011, that were not AA enough by their standards. This led to a complaint of discrimination and harassment made to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. One AA member reported the incident, naming both Toronto Intergroup and AA World Services.

This took a couple of years to work out but a settlement was reached earlier this month, all the agnostic/atheist groups are back in the directory and every group is free to conduct itself as it sees fit, not having to adopt anyone else’s believes nor deny their own.

Read a recent story for TheFix.com about AA and The Ontario Human Rights Code. Here’s a link:

There were under 80 agnostic/atheist AA meetings in North America at the turn of the century; there are close to 400 now, including the lower-mainland, Vancouver Island, the Kootenays and Washington State.

At the International Conference of Secular AA in Austin TX in 2016 Toronto was awarded the 2018 ICSAA and it will be the first time an international gathering of AA nonbelievers will gather in Canada.

Guest 2

Health committee releases report on improving health care in B.C.

VICTORIA – The all-party Select Standing Committee on Health released its unanimous report today “Looking Forward: Improving Rural Health Care, Primary Care, and Addiction Recovery Programs.” The report makes 59 recommendations focusing on rural health care, interdisciplinary teams, and addiction recovery programs.

“We heard considerable support for innovative approaches to the delivery of health care,” said committee chair Linda Larson. “All British Columbians, no matter where in the province they live and whatever their health concerns, should have access to timely, high-quality health care.”

The report reflects the input the committee received during public consultations, including 64 presentations and 211 written submissions.

“Our report highlights how we can strengthen our health-care system – particularly in the areas of rural health, team-based primary care, and addiction and recovery programs – to improve health outcomes,” added deputy chair Judy Darcy. “We would like to thank the many individuals and organizations who shared their knowledge, experience, and ideas with the committee.”

More information about the committee, including their report, is available at: https://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/health.

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