12 steps of Narcotics Anonymous

[Gawen]

I wasn't sure where to stick this...here or "Life as an atheist" forum. It applies to both. I'll let the Mods decide where this should ultimately end up.

Do you all remember the 1999 report of religious percentages in the US Federal Prison system? At the bottom of the list it listed Atheists make up 1% of 1% of persons in the prison system. Well, today, I happen to know an atheist in the Texas State (but privately owned) Prison system (for 6 months) who committed a felony of burglary and trying to pawn a television to sustain his marijuana addiction. Be that as it may, he MUST join in the Narcotics Anonymous or have his sentence lengthened by at least 3 months.

I received a letter from him yesterday. But first, here are the 12 steps NA says will work in stopping addiction:

If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible.

   1 We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
   2 We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
   3 We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
   4 We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
   5 We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
   6 We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
   7 We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
   8 We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
   9 We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
   10 We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
   11 We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
   12 Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all at once. We didn't become addicted in one
day, so remember—easy does it.
There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recovery; this is an
attitude of indifference or intolerance toward spiritual principles. Three of these that are
indispensable are honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness. With these we are well on our
way.{Bold, italics and underline - mine}
We feel that our approach to the disease of addiction is completely realistic, for the
therapeutic value of one addict helping another is without parallel. We feel that our way is
practical, for one addict can best understand and help another addict. We believe that the
sooner we face our problems within our society, in everyday living, just that much faster do we
become acceptable, responsible, and productive members of that society.
There are no strings attached to NA. We are not affiliated with any other organizations. We
have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not
connected with any political, religious, or law enforcement groups, and are under no
surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us, regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed,
religion, or lack of religion.

http://www.12steprecovery.com/12-steps-of-na.html

In the letter, he said #'s 8, 9, and 10 are not applicable in his situation.

He is also to memorize the 12 Traditions of NA.

The Twelve Traditions of NA
We keep what we have only with vigilance, and just as
freedom for the individual comes from the Twelve Steps, so
freedom for the group springs from our Traditions.
As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than
those that would tear us apart, all will be well.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery
depends on NA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—
a loving God as He may express Himself in our group
conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do
not govern.
3. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters
affecting other groups or NA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry the
message to the addict who still suffers.
6. An NA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the NA
name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest
problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our
primary purpose.
7. Every NA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining
outside contributions.
8. Narcotics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional,
but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. NA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create
service boards or committees directly responsible to those
they serve.
10. Narcotics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence
the NA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than
promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at
the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions,
ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

http://na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/litfiles/us_english/misc/Twelve%20Traditions.pdf

Numbers 6-11 are not applicable to him.



Other items in his letter are:
A "In our "program concepts" one of them states 'When you think you feel good, you look bad': When you start saying "I did that", you are forgetting that our blessing comes from a greater power then ourselves."

B "Prayer group in the morning"

C "We stand up and recite the Lords Prayer before we start 'AM Daily Development' and say other prayers. Even our counselors have us say prayers."

D "I have been slandered, for example, "You don't believe in God, you're going to Hell" and "You need to pray for forgiveness".

E Staff and inmates assume everyone believes in Christianity, therefore, anything Christian done or said is ok. (((I would assume he means that other religions ot lack of one is not Ok. However, in item F...)))

F "Staff and inmates throw in their religious preferences when they talk in 'group'."

G "In our support group, we have to write down the following":
1. Write about which of the following means to you.
1a. My Family.
1b. The value and customs of my culture.
1c. My community.
1d. My Higher power.
1e. My peers in the dormitory.
1f. My parents.

H "These twelve steps and traditions implies that I need God and only God to succeed in NA. I cannot pass NA if I don't complete the 12 steps or support the 12 traditions. NA is one of the programs we HAVE to take."

I There is a poster on the wall that says "A Christ-created recovery program"

End
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I called the attorney and asked about Separation of Church and State stuff and she replied with, "That doesn't apply in Texas". I am at a loss.

Any productive thoughts would be welcome.

[AnimatedDirt]

Aren't your personal rights as a citizen on hold as a prisoner?  If so, it would seem that the prison can almost employ any means to rehabilitate you.  This goes for both sides; belief/disbelief.

[Gawen]

Aren't your personal rights as a citizen on hold as a prisoner?  If so, it would seem that the prison can almost employ any means to rehabilitate you.  This goes for both sides; belief/disbelief.

I'm not sure. I'll have to look into it. I do know that convicts of certain crimes, such as the fellow I've been talking about loose their right to vote and to keep and bear arms. I don't know the extent of it.

[Davin]

Aren't your personal rights as a citizen on hold as a prisoner?  If so, it would seem that the prison can almost employ any means to rehabilitate you.  This goes for both sides; belief/disbelief.

What do prisoner rights have to do with separation of church and state anyway? What is being discussed is whethere the state is allowed to favor religion, not what the inmates can be subjected to. I know in California and my current state of residence does have some recent precedence against forcing religious programs on inmates by means of the state... I don't know about Texas.

[Jose AR]

its all just words. I mean that's all religion is anyway. Make the higher power "reason" and make god John Stuart Mill.

The real issue is getting off a chemical dependency and getting out of jail!

Good luck

Jose AR

[history_geek]

First off:

12 Step Program Penn and Teller Bullshit

Secondly,

A "In our "program concepts" one of them states 'When you think you feel good, you look bad': When you start saying "I did that", you are forgetting that our blessing comes from a greater power then ourselves."

Am I the only one that feels like this comes straight out of Egor's "What about dignity?"-thread, where he imples that it can only come from "god"? These people aren't buying it, it's their main product! Way to go making sure that the patients never grow their own backbone, self-respect and confidence needed to get rid of the possible addiction! And making sure that they will always crawl back to you....

And how the heck doesn't the seperation of State and Church apply in Texas? Did it become it's own nation again when nobody was watching?

[Gawen]

Yes, quitting the drugs and getting out of and staying out of prison are the most important factors. I think I shall write him a letter.