Secular AA's Podcast

Welcome to the AUGUST 2021 monthly World Tour first-Sunday-of-the-month secular AA speaker meeting, brough to you by International Conference of Secular AA.

August 1, 2021 our Zoom plane touched down in Canberra Australia. It was “our normal time,” 2 PM Sunday—but that was local time AEST, which meant we were 9 PM Saturday Pacific time, Midnight (0:00 Hours) EDT and 5 AM Ireland and UK. 

Moderated by Justin, we hear from Stephen, Deb and Chuck...
 
Deb talked about getting sober young in New Zealand where she lives now. She was science minded and wondered if AA’s religious bent wouldn’t be a barrier. Sober a while, she learned that 40% of people from New Zealand don’t adhere to religion or believe in gods and the percentage was even higher with youth. She would see people come to one meeting and never return. So, she started an AA for Atheists and Agnostics group. 

Stephen came to Australia with the US  Marine Corp and when he found AA, what was he going to do about this higher power thing? So he chose the values of the Corp: Honor, Courage, Commitment. 

Chuck’s 44 years of sobriety has kept him in good stead over 14 different time zones. He shares a lot of what he’s learned including the ABCs of loosing sobriety which he keeps track of: Apathy, Boredom and Complacency. 

August in Australia seemed like a natural. Since January we’ve been to Dublin, Orlando, Montreal, Cape Town, Cottonwood AZ, New York City and London ... and now Canberra. 

Show notes:

The 4th biennial ICSAA (International Conference of Secular AA) will be in Washington DC October 29th, 30th, 31st, 2021 at Hyatt Regency Bethesda MD. For information about our program, to register, book your hotel and/or volunteer:
AAsecular.org website

Registration is $130 per person, Hotel room rate (Discount code ICSAA2021) is $129/night, single/double.

More ICSAA audio (podcast page):  

Email/contact: [email protected] -  
Secular AA website 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Another “first” for EURO ICSAAA secular LGBTQIA+ Ireland Meeting.

There are AA meetings for LGBTQIA+ members in Ireland. There are secular AA meetings for people in Ireland. At the European-wide International Conference of Secular Alcoholics Anonymous we host the first Irish LGBTQIA+ Secular AA meeting. In accordance with meeting and committee wishes, this recording is an abridged version of our meeting. The secretary Leon will introduce the chair, Jim who will share their experience, strength and hope. The discussion among members/participants that follows was not recorded and will not be shared. 

This meeting was open to all and everyone should feel entitled to listen. If you want to know more about the definitions and itentities behind the LBTTQIA+ acronym, you may find this link helpful:

The ABCs of LGBTQIA+

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/style/lgbtq-gender-language.html

For a variety of online meetings of secular AA for athteists, angostics and and all others:

https://bit.ly/secularmeetings 

More about Alcoholics Anonymous for Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkes, Humanists and all others, visit https://aasecular.org

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Jeffrey Munn is a licensed marriage and family therapist from Santa Clarita CA where he has professionally and personally been involved in the field of addiction recovery for over ten years. Antonia and John of the Stonehenge  Freethinker's AA Step Study meeting moderate a two hour Staying Sober Without God book author Q&A with questions provided by group members and attendees in advance and live, asked by the moderators and answered by Jeffrey Munn.

Jeffrey Munn's website is: https://www.practicallysane.org/

The International Conference of of Secular AA recognizes and honors the immeasurable contributions that Alcoholics Anonymous has made to assist individuals to recover from alcoholism. We seek to ensure that A.A. remains an effective, relevant and inclusive program of recovery in an increasingly secular society. The foundation of Secular AA is grounded in our experience that anyone – regardless of their spiritual beliefs or lack thereof – can recover in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Secular AA exists to serve the community of secular-minded alcoholics by supporting worldwide access to secular AA meetings and fostering mutual support within a growing, diverse  population suffering from alcohol use disorder.
https://aasecular.org 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Alcoholics Anonymous and our Cooperation with the Professional Community.

AA presentation on the role Secular AA as a special purpose group.

A recent About AA: A Newsletter for Professionals sited the March 2020 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews “AA and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder” and findings that "increased AA participation can lead to higher rates of continuous abstinence over months and years, when compared to other active treatment approaches." 

During our online European International Conference of Secular AA, June 19, 2021, Karen M and Barry B of England, and Marion N from Scotland, spoke to the special role that a growing secular AA community plays in delivering positive AA outcome rates for people with alcohol use disorder that prefer an irreligious/secular approach to AA. 

This audio recording offers the public and professionals working with people with alcohol use disorder a snapshot of AA today, how secular AA, like other special purpose groups within the broader fellowship serves a growing demand of agnostics and atheists, and actual anecdotal accounts of how secular AA helps people find and maintain sobrity. 

https://aasecular.org 

https://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/information-for-professionals 

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/ 

Agnostic and Atheist Members in AA leaflet 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Français Rencontre avec Chantal et Claire

Bienvenue à la première Conférence Internationale Européenne des Alcooliques Anonymes laïcs pour athées et agnostiques, le 19 juin 2021. 

Pour plus d'informations sur l'I.C.S.A.A. visitez https://aasecular.org 

Welcome to the first European International Conference of secular Alcoholics Anonymous for atheists and agnostics, June 19, 2021. This meeting is conducted by Chantel.

For more information about I.C.S.A.A. visit a, a, secular.org 

French Meeting with Chantal

https://aasecular.org

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Vince Hawkins ( a pen name) started a secular AA meeting in  Valencia Spain. It didn't seem to go as planned. Vince took his concerns to secular AA/recovery social media for feedback. In this ICSAA workshop,  Vince shares the first-hand experience and practical advice received from Facebook with this European International Conference of Secular AA June 19, 2021. This podcast captures this discussion. 

https://vincehawkins.com/ 

https://aasecular.org for more information about future AA gatherings for atheists and agnostics. 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Born of the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down, a lone online secular AA meeting was started in Ireland to meet a need. It did satisfy an unmet need. Today (at the time of our June 19, 2021 European International Conference of Secular AA), there are now 11 meetings weekly with the odd 24 hour... well, 25 hour (that will be explained in the meeting) around the clock back-to-back meetings. 
https://tusnua.eu for meetings, resources and more information. 

The growth of secular AA and the proliferation of online meetings created an opportunity to facilitate the first European ICSAA online. Visit https://aasecular.org for more information about International secular gatherings, resources and online communities. 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Sunday, July 4th, 2021, Live from New York City! 

The International Conference of Secular AA ( #ICSAA) was stoked to be in New York City for the “First Sunday of every month secular speaker world tour” July stop. This recording features:

• Ken H moderates with 
• Glenn S-P
• Kendell T and 
• Susan C 

Many other New Yorkers were on the live Zoom meeting. We saw key players in past and present stewardship of agnostic/atheist and humanist meetings that have been in The Big Apple since the 1980s. Also in attendance, New Yorkers sober since COVID, natives to these zooming ways and plenty of members who were singing, "I miss New York." 

The whole world came to listen and participate (as you will hear in the podcast).

This is a meeting to be remembered. Even people at the meeting couldn’t wait to listen in. Our hour and a half is rich with grace, gratitude, drama and AA know-how. 

More info...
 New York Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists & Freethinkers in AA: https://agnosticaanyc.org/ 

ICSAA events, contacts and more: https://aasecular.org 

Email the International Conference of Secular AA: [email protected] 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

Stonehenge Women's & Sober She Devils team up in an International collaboration  for a secular AA women's meeting/panel that was open to all 4 PM Ireland/UK time June 19th. This was the first EURO International Conference of Secular AA, a two Zoom room, 12-hour program bringing together members of Alcoholics Anonymous from around the world.

Secular AA is grounded in our experience that anyone – regardless of their spiritual beliefs or lack thereof – can recover in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Secular AA exists to serve the community of agnostic, atheist, freethinker, humanist and all other alcoholics or people who suspect they have a problem with alcohol use.

Connect:
https://sobershedevils.com/

https://aasecular.org 

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org 

In this ICSAA Podcast episode, we share Scottish AA from the June 19th European International Conference of Secular Alcoholics Anonymous. We will hear the history of how the first meeting in  Scotland for freethinkers came to be. The international AA community gets to participate in the regular Tuesday night 7:30 PM format of the online version of this first secular AA meeting in Scotland.

More about atheists and agnostics in AA:
https://aasecular.org
https://secularaa.eu
more secular/freethinkers/agnostic meetings:
https://bit.ly/secularmeetings

Secular AA is AA sobriety that is neither religious nor irreligious, focusing on the practical, humanist tools of Alcoholics Anonymous and borrowed from the wider recovery community. Secular AA is a growing subculture within AA, offering 100 agnostic/atheist/freethinkers AA meetings every day + regional events and the International Conference of Secular AA (ICSAA). More @ https://aasecular.org