Germany after the wall fell
In contemporary America many people are looking for the "easy way" to spirituality through step-by-step religions that seem to solve their problems for them, especially people who suffering from something like alcoholism or are lacking something in their lives. These people are easy targets for many New Age cults posing as religious or "spiritual" groups. One so-called expression of spirituality that has been popular for over sixty years is Alcoholics Anonymous. One way to classify this organization is to call it a "self-help group with a strong spiritual foundation," but it would be more appropriate to designate it a religion if not a cult for its lack of success in the self-help realm and most of the beliefs for which it is built on. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the history and material expressions of spirituality evident in A.A. and how they are related to the ideas held by David Morgan in his book Visual Piety, but more importantly I would also like to discuss how this group that describes itself as "spiritual, not religious," is indeed a cult-like religion that has merely designated God as the "Higher Power" and alcohol as the devil or sins. "The tw
is really a cult religion, one that passes off its proselytizing under the guise of alcoholism treatment, in just the same way as the Church of Scientology sells its cultish psycho-babble and techno-babble nonsense as self-improving psychotherapy" (Agent Orange, 2002). would lose all its Catholic members. Finally, Bill Wilson behaved like a lot of other cult leaders taking all the rights for the "Big Book," which he supposedly co-wrote with Dr. In addition, though not necessarily a visual image, the ritual of repetition of the Twelve Steps before every meeting is extremely important in drilling those beliefs into the subconscious of the members of the program and acts as a sort of religious ritual to begin each meeting. Overall, with the poor success rate of 0-5% and all the similarities between it and a cult and religion, Alcoholics Anonymous seems to be close if not worse than no "treatment" at all, yet, oddly enough, it is still mandated on alcoholics by courts and supported by tax-payers money. were: 1) complete deflation (of the ego), 2) dependence and guidance from Higher Power, 3) moral inventory, 4) confession, 5) restitution, and 6) continued work with alcoholics (AKA recruiting). Frank Nathaniel Buchman, a renegade Lutheran minister. Bibliography1. They still believed in the religious tenets of Buchmanism so they made their own independent group with the same religious beliefs but to serve alcoholics better, which they both were at the time. Like Morgan said, "this ubiquity and sameness, this pervasive familiarity, will seem militantly boring to those for whom the imagery signifies an alien world, but it is deeply reassuring for the image's adherents.
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Acceptance Essays
