Some Thoughts About Christians and Non-Christians in an A.A. Group Today

I applaud the temperate way in which you discussed the article. I confess I cannot tell exactly what your position is. If you are favoring forgiveness as part of the Christian walk, I certainly agree. If you are favoring the broad highway of higher powers today, I wouldn't argue the point because I thought I made it clear that I am a Christian, a Bible student, a solid A.A. and I am most thankful for what A.A. did for me and what I was able to do for many in A.A. That has nothing to do with whether A.A. is or is not Christian. It isn't. But it certainly was, and a few psychoheretics are so violently anti-A.A. that they think they can drive, warn, threaten Christians out of A.A. by telling them the truth--A.A. isn't Christian. Their problem is that they just can't understand or swallow the overwhelming proof that A.A. sprang from Christian origins, was a Christian fellowship, and then changed. And I strongly believe Christians in A.A. need to know their origins, need to know the change, need to reject the higher power gods, and need to feel free to believe, talk, act, and walk like Christians IN A.A. If you are not in agreement that there is little value in the psychoheretics trying to claim that which is true - A.A. is not a Christian fellowship - then I would suggest that you missed my point: There are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Christians IN A.A. who are being vigorously and personally attacked because they belong to an A.A. whose broad membership is composed of many many Christians and many many who are not. I have no problem with those who are not. I have a great many problems with those who drive or attempt to drive Christians out of A.A. because they are keeping company with those who are not Christians. I'm one of those people who didn't conduct a litmus test as to the Christianity of my fellow Boy Scouts, fraternity brothers, law school colleagues, fellow lawyers, any judge, fellow Rotarians, fellow chamber of commerce friends, people I fished with, people I hunted with, people I played tennis with, people who were in the high school band, Army, and summer camps I attended. I was a Christian. I stayed a Christian. And I never left any of those outfits because someone else was not. In fact, I never asked or needed to ask - as far as I can remember at age 85. I'm just not one of those who thinks all Christians should crawl back into the catacombs and fear the Romans. I heartily concur in the value of fellowshipping with like-minded believers. There are not only biblical reasons for that view; there are practical reasons for praying, witnessing, fellowshipping, healing, worshipping, studying the Bible together - and much more. But whether A.A. is or is not a Christian fellowship wasn't and isn't ever an issue for me. Whether Christians can be in A.A. without intimidation, rebuke, and phony biblical arguments against their presence - that is an issue. And perhaps it's the major reason I wrote and keep writing about that along with the hundreds of other subjects I cover