Tim Bruening wrote:
> According to the 12 steps advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholics
> are supposed to turn to God/A higher power for help in overcoming
> alcoholism. Alcoholics are to believe that a higher power can restore
> them to sanity, turn their wills and lives over to God, admit to God the
> exact nature of their wrongs, ask God to remove their shortcomings, and
> seek through prayer and meditation to improve their conscious contact
> with God.
>
> If an alcoholic happens to be an atheist, how would he apply the 12
> Steps?
>
> If an alcoholic atheist is COURT ORDERED to attend AA meetings, would
> this constitute an infringement on their First Amendment right to
> freedom of religion?

If you are still discussing your friend's wife, you hadn't mentioned
before that she was attending court ordered AA. I suggest that she find
a sponsor who is also an atheist or at least agnostic.

Many atheists do well in AA but as I said before I am not an atheist so
I'd rather not talk about how they do it since I can only share my own
experience.

If an atheist has a choice I would recommend Rational Recovery with the
caveat that they don't let themselves get sucked into the anger written
into the small book. Aside from that, it has some effective ideas.