Does Step 12 require believing in God a certain way?
In short:
- No particular way. Step Twelve itself doesn't mention God (p. 60). The Steps that do say "God as we understood Him" (Steps 3 and 11, p. 59).
- The book says that when it speaks of God, "we mean your own conception of God" (p. 47). In Chapter 7 the newcomer "can choose any conception he likes, provided it makes sense to him" (p. 93).
- The book does not say belief doesn't matter. It asks at least for willingness to believe in a Power greater than yourself (pp. 47, 93), and its own writers call that Power God.
- When you carry the message, you're told not to push your own idea of God on anyone (pp. 93, 95).
What Step Twelve says
"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs" (p. 60). There's no statement of belief in it. The awakening it mentions is described in Appendix II as a change of personality that most people go through slowly (p. 567). See: What is the "spiritual awakening" in Step 12?
Your own conception
Chapter 4, "We Agnostics," was written for people who can't accept God as others describe Him. It says about half the original fellowship thought they were atheists or agnostics (p. 44). Its main points: - "Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another's conception of God" (p. 46). Your own conception, however inadequate, was enough to start with (p. 46). - "When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God" (p. 47), and the same goes for the book's other spiritual terms (p. 47). - The one question to ask yourself: "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" (p. 47). - Differences in how members conceive of that Power "are questions for each individual to settle for himself" (p. 50).
Chapter 2 says the same: "We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired" (p. 28), and which religious body a member belongs to, if any, is "an entirely personal affair" (p. 28).
What Chapter 7 tells the helper
Every instruction in the Step Twelve chapter about how to present God to the newcomer is about holding back: - If the man is agnostic or atheist, make it emphatic "that he does not have to agree with your conception of God" (p. 93). - Use everyday language, and don't raise theological issues, "no matter what your own convictions are" (p. 93). - The chapter says the members represent no particular faith or denomination (pp. 93–94). - "If he is to find God, the desire must come from within" (p. 95). - If he prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his own conscience. "We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us" (p. 95).
Where the text cuts the other way
It would be wrong to say the Big Book treats God as optional or unimportant. It doesn't. - The "main thing," Chapter 7 says, is that the newcomer "be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles" (p. 93). - The same chapter tells the helper to "Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone" (p. 98), because "The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house" (p. 98), and to remind him that his recovery "is dependent upon his relationship with God" (p. 100). - "We Agnostics" argues at length that faith is reasonable, and says that, faced with alcoholism, "either God is everything or else He is nothing" (p. 53). - Chapter 5 says, before listing the Steps, "there is One who has all power—that One is God" (p. 59). - Appendix II's minimum is that a person not "close his mind to all spiritual concepts" (p. 568).
So the text settles the question asked here: no specific conception of God is required, and no one may impose theirs. It doesn't settle a different question some people mean, whether a person with no belief and no willingness to believe in any Power greater than himself fits the program. The book's answer to that person is an invitation and an argument (Chapter 4), not a rule.
Read it yourself
- Chapter 4, We Agnostics (pp. 44–57), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt4.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 5, "How It Works," with the Steps (pp. 58–71): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf
- Appendix II, "Spiritual Experience" (pp. 567–568): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendiceii.pdf
- Related: What does Step 12 really say? · What is the "spiritual awakening" in Step 12?
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" | 28 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 4, "We Agnostics" | 44–57 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 5, "How It Works" | 59–60 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 7, "Working With Others" | 93–100 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix II, "Spiritual Experience" | 567–568 | added after the first printing (1939) |
Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.