Sober without god. An atheist / agnostic / humanist thread. Please be respectful!

Yes, I’m not really posting as much anymore as it’s all encompassing and too much effort to keep overlooking. :face_with_peeking_eye:

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Glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels the religious performances on this site have increased.

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:rofl::rofl: so has my use of the ignore button. Life is better once you declutter.

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Thanks for the reminder. :cross_mark: :cross_mark: :cross_mark:

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Thanks for sharing! I just love it!

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Love is my religion.

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Then again. What’s left for me here when I have to block half the people to have a normal experience? For me this place is supposed to be about community. About peer support. About being in it together. About connection being the opposite to addiction. About humans supporting themselves and each other by sharing their experiences in recovery/discovery. Learning how to live their lives sober. Together. World wide. Without interference of race, gender, sexuality, and religious conviction or lack thereof.

When there’s more and more people here only talking about their religious convictions, about how everything they do is thanks to their religion, for me there’s not much left. I do understand how religious communities offer support. Like I do understand why organizations like AA and NA are supportive in people’s recoveries. It’s because they are communities. They offer support to its members who share a common goal. About being in it together. About connection.

And there’s the crux for me. For me it’s all about community. I’m here for community. But when there’s more and more people here just keep talking about their -in my view dogmatic- beliefs I feel more and more excluded. I don’t feel community. It’s not about humans. It’s not about being in it together. It’s the same thing I don’t like about AA, about the way a substantial part of people in AA talk about it, it’s the this is the only way, follow the program or be damned approach. Again, not about community but about the program.

And I know there’s many folks here and everywhere who do hold religious convictions, and also lots of folks that are greatly helped in their recoveries through 12 steps programs and I love to share some of my road with them as they do share theirs with me. I also like to know what helps them and learn from them and I will take what’s mine and leave the rest. There has to be something shared though. Some common ground. And I feel I’m losing that common ground here. Makes me sad. And not feel at home. I didn’t think it’d come to that.

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I know exactly how you feel my friend.
I would like to see @moderators review and update the guidelines we all follow. To include religious zealots along with politics [quote=“aircircle, post:1, topic:79120”]
Please refrain from posting about politics. Political discussions will be removed by moderators without bias.
[/quote]
There are some on here that would make even Ned Flanders think “Lord will you just give it a rest”
I came to talking sober because the religious influences of AA really put me off attending meetings.
Now I am here I get religion pushed down my throat daily unless I block people.
I shouldnt and dont want to block people.
Like you say friend, addictions can be helped vastly by connection to other people.
I do often think of how people on here would react if others were praising Alah and Muhammad as opposed to God and Jesus :thinking: would their tolerance to religions beliefs be tested?
One thing we all need is community, just without the dogma. I think that is respectful to everyone.
So lets just see what happens friend, until then we carry on being sober and helping eachother-just like the good samaritan :astonished_face:

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I’m not quite sure about that one, although this subject has become so politicized in recent times you might be right in the current climate. In my experience it’s safe and easy to say I’m christian when travelling to a lot of countries, also non-christian ones. Orthodoxy respects orthodoxy, they understand where it’s coming from. They just totally do not understand or respect non-believers. The unsafe thing is to say I’m an atheist. Just the same as with being gay by the way.

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I came across this and thought it may be of some use to people like myself who do not believe in god .

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This is great, I found step 2 + 3 probably the most difficult so far, and tbh I still sometimes feel like I haven’t “done” them “properly” because I don’t believe in a bloke with a beard sitting on a cloud.

I’ve also found the language used in the blue book is a real turn off for me (God/His/He etc). I have to remind myself that it was written decades ago and I just need to treat the words as signposts towards what I perceive to be a “higher power” and how that works for me.

I think my 12 step group has helped me in my recovery, but I have to put more effort into “translating” the more religiously charged language into something more palatable for me personally… i.e. affirmations instead of prayers, evolution/nature/science instead of god.

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I moved to ‘the Bible Belt’ area of the US several years ago. I am a recovering Catholic and I don’t believe in ''a God". My husband finds the culture change more of a challenge than I do, but I think my navigating sobriety without AA has helped me feel more comfortable with differing paths and viewpoints. For me as well, I can be very entrenched in my own beliefs, so I do recognize the clinging that so many us humans have to our experiences/paths/beliefs.

Allowing myself (and with that, other people) to be where I am (they are) at, even if it is uncomfortable or brings up a lot, seems to be a theme of my journey thru life. It gives me a lot to consider.

All that said, I certainly also chafe at rigid dogma no matter where it falls. Always work to be done in the letting go.

I have no answers, only my own experience, same as everyone here. I am glad people feel comfortable to express their unease, worries and experiences. I am glad the forum is open to us all wherever we are at in our lives/journey. All things change and evolve. :people_hugging::wrapped_gift::heart:

***Edited to add: me posting as a member, not as a moderator response.

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Amen. We are here in the Sober without God thread. There is, I believe, a Sober with God thread. Move the religious proselytizing there, and keep the public areas open for all in our community.

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This is pulling me out of retirement but the over abundance of religion (rather than faith) has kept me away for a bit. And that’s coming as someone who is spiritual. I often wonder how “religious” some people would be if they couldn’t post a bible quote in every post? I thought religion was all about living gods word rather than bragging/talking about but…. I tend to notice the biggest hypocrisy in that cohort. Jesus was not out bragging about being Jesus. Just saying🤷‍♂️

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I wish I could like it twice.

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You had me at Amen :rofl:

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The overactive SkyDaddy crowd are off putting… I have retreated on this app…some peeps really need firm, direct conversation not hand holding.

“Sober Selfies”, “Pics of where you live” and " Screenshot Clean Time" threads that are non confrontational, so safe for me…

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If there are ‘off topic’ or derailing posts on threads, do feel free to flag them for review. Moderators do not read all threads or posts, we rely on forum members for assistance as needed. We are in this together. :people_hugging:

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I’m not religious. Somehow, even without being religious I’m more “Christian” than lots of people throwing out the claim. I don’t scapegoat my actions on the devil, I don’t give God credit for things that go well.

Honestly, I have no idea if any of that exists. What I do know is that we should treat eachother with kindness, Be helpful and empathetic. If there is anything after this life and that isn’t good enough to get in…. Oh well, I probably wouldn’t want to be there anyway.

Some people feel the need to be led, I’m not one of them. I don’t require a set of rules as a north star to my moral compass.

This is my take as a member, not a moderator.

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… As an afterthought, this thread got jammed up a few years ago.

From what I remember, it was felt, by a believer that this thread was being negative (or something close) towards those of faith.

So, I’ll drop this here.

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