Aa Beyond Belief

In this episode we meet Westin W. from Indianapolis, who shares his experience, strength and hope as an atheist in Alcoholics Anonymous. As his drinking and life became increasingly unmanageable, Westin searched for AA on the Internet, but as a life-long atheist, he was disappointed with what he found in what seemed like large flashing letters...GOD.

Jon Stewart from Brighton, England was kind enough to join me for a conversation which I found immensely interesting, and I hope you do as well. Unlike guests from past episodes, Jon is not a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. In fact, he left AA after fourteen years in the program, and his blog Leaving AA, Staying Sober: New Perspectives on Recovery tells the story.

What a pleasure it was to spend a Sunday morning speaking with Mikey J. from Orlando, Florida. Mikey is a founding member of Our Mostly Agnostic Group of Drunks (OMAGOD). The group, founded by members of various fellowships, has been meeting for some three years, and reaches far beyond it's own meeting room with an online meeting at InTheRooms.com every Tuesday night at 9:00 PM EST. It's the only secular AA meeting at In The Rooms and has been quite popular.

In Episode Four of AA Beyond Belief-The Podcast, we will speak with Thomas B. from Seaside Oregon. We'll talk about his experience getting sober in New York during the 1970's, an interesting conversation he had with Bill W.'s secretary Nell Wing, and the history of the Back to Basics movement in AA. We will also get an update on the long-standing request for a Grapevine Book of stories from agnostics, atheists and freethinkers in AA.

In episode three, I interview John H. from the We Agnostics AA Group in Washington DC. We talk about his story, the beginnings of the DC We Agnostics Group, his views on atheism and AA.

Many years ago, maybe twenty or more, I would occasionally attend a speaker meeting on Friday nights and at those meetings I would see Kevin P. I never got to know him, but as long as I’ve been in AA, he’s been around. We went to different groups and our paths rarely crossed. Fortunately for me that changed sometime in July when Kevin came to a meeting at my home group, We Agnostics Kansas City.

On this week's podcast, we speak with Jerry F. from Phoenix, Arizona about the upcoming regional conference for agnostic, atheist and freethinking AA members in Arizona. The conference to be held on November 7, 2015 at the Burton Barr Central Library will feature speakers, panels, a skit and more.

In this episode we take a look back at the great work of Roger C. at AA Agnostica and talk about the future of AA Beyond Belief.