October 2016:This is Episode 26, the Say YES to EVERYTHING show!
At the time of recording it is October 2016—a great day to be living sober, or clean or clean and sober or living in long-term recovery if you like. I would call 2016 a great time to be part of the recovery community and especially great to be a part of the 12-Step community. Change is afoot and we are part of it.
Oct 7 – 11 I was presenting to addiction professionals in Minneapolis Minneso-ber for the NAADAC national conference. NAADAC's theme was “Embrace Today, Empower Tomorrow.” Catchy…
transcript PDF CLICK HERE
We Agnostics, Atheists & Freethinkers International AA Conference is—or was, depending on when you are listening to this—November 11th – 13th in Austin TX. Rebellion Dogs is co-hosting a panel/workshop called: LIVING CYBER along with the team from SinceRightNow.com, home of Recovery Revolution. Chris is co-host of KLĒN + SŌBR podcast and also on our panel is Tammi S whose blog, My Life Is A Work In Progress, chronicles her ongoing sobriety. We’ll talk about f2f recovery vs. online sobriety.
This is such an awesome time for skeptics/atheists in AA. A new pamphlet from the United Kingdom General Service office is called:
The “God” Word: Atheists and Agnostics in AA.
And meanwhile back in New York, Grapevine just released their first Atheists/Agnostic features month.
Way to go AA for both of those initiatives. Still, it’s not very popular not believing in a sobriety granting higher power in America. We learn from Phil Zuckerman, PhD professor of sociology and secular studies that there exists a phenomena called, “secularphobia.” Zuckerman says:
"While about 10 percent of Americans said they’d be unhappy if a family member married someone of a different political persuasion, and about 30 percent of Americans said they’d be unhappy if a family member married a gun owner, nearly 50 percent of Americans said that they’d be unhappy if a family member married an atheist.
This finding comes as no surprise. Social science has long revealed high rates of secularphobia – the irrational dislike, distrust, fear or hatred of nonreligious people – within American society."
So what about this “Say Yes to Everything” theme?
We look at AA’s theme this year: “Secure the Future” and General Service finds that we have underrepresented minorities that we aren’t reaching. In Episode 26 we challenge the orthodoxy of the age-old decision making process at the General Service Conference which is voting by substantial unanimity. That’s good, but can we do better. We think we can by radical accommodation - a natural extention to AA's principle of radical inclusivity - and we ask the Conference to stop leaving minority issues up the majority.
We look to lessons leaned from the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Framing this issue as a civil rights issue—bigger than a race issue—contributed to the eventual majority view inside of the USA. Who wouldn't stand for the protection and assurance of civil rights for all?
Just say yes—to everything.
It’s a rockin’ show and includes a little rock ‘n’ roll from an indie band called The Tarp Kickers.
transcript PDF CLICK HERE.
Enjoy the show and then join the conversation. We’re listening.
The Tarp Kickers
KLĒN + SŌBR podcast
Tammi S - My Life Is A Work In Progress
NAADAC in Minneapolis “Embrace Today, Empower Tomorrow.”
Phil Zuckerman, PhD in Psychology Today: Why Americans Hate Atheists