Green Gambling

Why does gamblers anonymous have to mention god?

Ive come to admit that i have a gambling problem and i went to gamblers anonymous but i was put off by the fact that several of the steps include religious connotations. Im a staunch atheist and i feel there must be a way of fighting this addiction without going all religious.

Public Comments

1. No one says you have to do it Bill W.'s way. He founded Alcholics Anonymous and showed other people the way he did it, which included God. If you want to do it your way, then blaze your own trail.
2. I'm sure there is, and I wish you luck.
3. There is no religion, it is actually based on spirituality. The word god is used, but there is no push into organized religion. If you want help bad enough, maybe you can keep an open mind.
4. Sadly, that is what GA is all about. Admitting that a higher power is in control of your life. Frankly, I think it is little more than a religious organization in disguise, preying on people who are vulnerable and have a problem. The 12 steps to 'recovery' are: 1. We admitted we were powerless over gambling - that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. [ As you can see, even by step two they are trying to convince you that there is some magical power at work in the universe who is capable of fixing the problem. ] 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Power of our own understanding. [ Step 3 is a call to become religious. ] 4. Made a searching and fearless moral and financial inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have these defects of character removed. 7. Humbly asked God (of our understanding) to remove our shortcomings. [ Step 7 is more religious nonsense. Asking God to fix the problem. ] 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 11. 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. [ Now that we have become religious, it's time to pray for a solution. ] 12. Having made an effort to practice these principles in all our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers. [ Now God has magically fixed us, it is time to go out and recruit new members. ] You know I have seen documentaries about Gamblers Anonymous and other 'Anonymous' groups such as AA. From what I can tell the success of these groups is severely limited. They seem more interested in pushing religion in a fairly cult-like manner as opposed to doing anything else. If you don't believe in a higher power, I can't really see how you could follow the 12 steps and ask a magic invisible man to fix your problems for you. Your best shot is to hope that meeting with and talking about your gambling problem with other addicts will help you.
5. I agree with you, it is ridiculous. It is a shame if there are no other organizations that can help you without using the crutch of religion. I think for alcoholism they have alternate organizations, but I don't know about gambling. I thought that they mention a "higher power" and not any specific religious reference. Is it possible that you can just lie though the steps (or parts of the steps) that you don't agree with, and be helped from the other steps? Maybe you can interperet the higher power to be science. I'm sure that a lot of what is done has nothing to do with religion, and hopefully they don't make you participate in any type of prayer. If they say a group prayer, maybe you can just stand up along with everyone else but just not say anything. I'm Jewish, and if I go to a wedding in a church I stand up along with everyone else, (I want to be respectful, but I won't kneel), but I don't participate in any of the prayers or even say amen.