I would like to offer some insight onto this discussion, being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous myself. One of skongshoj's strongest arguments against AA is step Nine, in which alcoholics are made prepared to start amending their past. As Dutchess pointed out in the previous post, the actual reading of the 9th Step text is "Made direct amends to such people possible, EXCEPT when to do so would injure themselves or others ," and not a suggestion to walk blindly back into a harmful or frightening situation. Thus, if the wound was too grievously dealt, it is recommended that the person find an indirect way of making amends, such as writing a letter or paying back charities. Often times the person you harmed is dead and there is no physical way to make direct amends. Or, as in the instance that skongshoj quoted, one might write a long unsent letter. The point of making amends is to clear your own soul, to "clean your side of the street", to make you become aware of your actions as to avoid the worst of them again.

Alcoholics Anonymous, nor ANY 12 step program claims to "cure" an addiction. Addiction is not something that can be cured, i.e, a heroin addict will not learn to use heroin safely, nor would anyone in their right mind suggest they try, lest the chance of failing to control their usage kill them. Alcohol has the same principles when abused, and even the medical profession is in agreement. Addiction is a disease than can be curtailed and held off by the process of simply not diving back into the physical addiction of alcohol.

The "moral" inventory mentioned in the 12 steps speak to the reasons behind the addiction. It is all good and well to stop drinking, but if you do not attempt to resolve the issues behind the drinking then the balm and oblivion of drinking starts to sound good and before you know it, you are back to the abusive cycle of drinking. It is well known that in order to stop the symptoms you need to reach the root of the problem. Medically speaking, stopping drinking IS enough. For a human being to stay out of an abusive cycle, they need to be working on the reasons WHY they were in that cycle to begin with.

The Big Book was written in 1932 originally, with revisions coming out roughly every 10 to 15 years. As such, the spiritual side of Alcoholics Anonymous has also changed. Alternative religions were not a part of the program when it first started, but today in any room across the world it is made very clear that Christianity is NOT the only Higher Power to choose from. The reason that alcoholics are suggested to find a Higher Power is because the force of addiction often goes beyond a person's rational ability to think and something just as strong is needed to counter-act that force.

I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I am an alcoholic. I will not say this program has "saved" me, nor that it has "cured" the "demon alcohol". It has given me something else to believe in than the continuation of death and depression that alcohol brought me.