CHICAGO—Despite a lack of divine intervention by the Son of God or any other higher power, area man Tom Wendt has somehow managed to overcome his alcoholism, sources confirmed Friday. “It was causing so many problems at work and with my family that I decided to stop drinking before it ruined my life,” said Wendt, who credited his own willpower, a desire to better himself as a human being, and not Jesus Christ for the otherwise inexplicable recovery. “It hasn’t been easy, but I took a hard look at myself and made some important lifestyle changes. I’m sober almost three months now, and I never could have done it without [wife and non-supernatural-entity] Susan.” Reached for comment, Wendt’s aunt Clara, who spent years praying for her nephew, remained steadfast in her insistence that Jesus most likely had something to do with it.

Very inspirational story:-)

ryking:

Given the persecution of atheist and Buddhist recovering alcoholics recounted in this article, I’d have to say, “No.”

I would say no since I don’t think I’m a bad person, I don’t think we are born sinful and I don’t need my soul saved.

I’ve tried AA and I would not recommend it for an atheist, agnostic or humanist.  I wouldn’t even recommended it for a religious person. AA is demeaning to the individual and humiliation is often used as a tool to strip its members of any self respect.

This is all done so one will embrace a ‘power’ higher than the self.  Since we as human beings are ‘weak and sinful’ by nature or ‘original sin’ if you will, we can’t possibly help ourselves or each other without putting our faith in a ‘higher power.’

Although many AA groups and organizations claim that the ‘higher power’ requirement can be anything, ostensibly as a way of getting government funding and subverting the separation of church and state, it should be clear to anyone who has ever read the ‘Big Book’ that substituting ‘God’ with nature, science, or individual will power is not acceptable.

All that being said, there are a growing number of secular organizations in the United States, Canada and Europe that take a science based approach at recovery.

For instance, LifeRing Secular Recovery has this to say about their approach. 

Now picture a modern hospital. People come with all kinds of ailments and problems. Doctors and nurses dispense advice, issue prescriptions, and fit casts and crutches. For example, if you come in with diabetes, you’ll get advice on foods to avoid and a prescription for medication. Nutritional advice, prescriptions, casts and crutches are examples of secular methods of healing.

What would you say if your doctor told you to treat your diabetes by praying and confessing your character defects? Prayer and confession are religious methods. The theory that ill-nesses can be treated by religious methods is called faith healing. If you believe in faith healing as a treatment for your substance abuse problem, you would be more comfortable in other groups.

In our experience, religious or spiritual treatment methods are about as relevant to alcoholism or drug addiction as they are to diabetes, allergies, or a broken leg. Not very. For that reason, we rely on secular methods, and we recommend secular treatment approaches. We support each other in taking responsibility for our own recovery and learning the skills necessary to live a long-term sober life.

Self-help support groups are effective in helping people recover from an enormous variety of problems. Self-help support groups are a secular method of healing. The active ingredient in them is human warmth. When we huddle with others who suffer from the same problem as our-selves, and see them over-coming it, we catch hope. We pick up our courage. We learn what we have to do and we develop the strength to do it. With group support, over time, we heal ourselves.

The power to get clean and sober lies within you. It arises from the survival instinct found in all life forms. In LifeRing Secular Recovery groups, we recognize and cultivate that power in ourselves and each other. We share experiences and problems, defeats and victories. We encourage one another to take charge of our own recovery and to construct our personal recovery plan. We respect intelligence in the service of recovery. We feel enriched as a group by the fact that our members become self-reliant and have mastered a diversity of recovery tools.

Because we are secular, we are modest. Our inspiration is merely human and we know that humans are fallible. We aim for recovery with-out relapse. If you do slip, we encourage you to come right back in and to share how it happened, so that we can all learn from your experience. LifeRing Secular Recovery is a net-work of groups of ordinary human beings helping each other along the recovery road. Our approach is not guaranteed to work for every-one. All we can claim is that it works for us.

Tolerance, openness, warmth, respect, intelligence, self-reliance, diversity, modesty — those are the qualities that we believe make for the most effective recovery environment. Those are the qualities that define the word “secular” as we understand it.

That’s why secular is our middle name.

Unfortunately for me and many others, LifeRing nor any of the other recovery groups and organizations I’ve listed below, are widely available on the local level yet. They do however offer interactive online services and meetings which is enough for some people.

• Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS)
• SMART Recovery®
• LifeRing Secular Recovery
• Recovery International 
• Women For Sobriety, Inc.

(Source: diadoumenos)