Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Cult?

This week I have two guests on the show with the experience to answer this important question. First there’s Mike of the Digression Sessions Podcast, http://digressionsessions.com/. Mike was a very precocious alcoholic who was able to hit rock bottom at the impressive age of 21.  Just in time to actually legally drink! Mike had a somewhat positive experience with Alcoholics Anonymous. He was able to cope by picking and choosing which steps he liked. He was helped further by the fact that he was still fairly agnostic about god at the time.

Second is Danielle, who has actually never had a sip of alcohol! Because her mom was an alcoholic, though, she was indoctrinated into an extremely cult like group called Al Anon. We find out that this is a different group than Alcoholics Anonymous.  It is for the family and friends of addicts. However, the things she was forced to go through were just as controlling and unreasonable as the 12 steps can be for alcoholics.

For example, Danielle was told who and how she should date and what she should wear.  She was dictated to constantly by her sponsor. Danielle would never make any life decision without obtaining explicit approval from her Al Anon family. She was subject to a ton of Alcoholics Anonymous dogma and she wasn’t even an addict!

Was Danielle’s experience the norm or was Mike’s? It’s hard to say. But we also hear 3 clips from notable and representative members of Alcoholics Anonymous that paint a grim picture. Further, the steps themselves are incredibly religious. (See here: http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/smf-121_en.pdf) Though Mike was able to ignore the ridiculous parts, as an atheist I would have quite a hard time doing so myself.

Finally, some say the success rate for Alcoholics Anonymous is alarmingly poor. See http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-surprising-failures-of-12-steps/284616/ for example.

Image courtesy of MR Lightman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:32 — 61.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

I continue the discussion of free will, covering a ton more territory. The debate between Harris and Dennett got a little bit hostile and I wish Dennett had written another response to Harris. In this episode I’ve got tons of thought experiments that I think outline the difficulties of the problem. I think I have some novel thoughts about it, but I’ll leave that to my smart listeners to decide!

Dennett’s response to Harris’s book: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/reflections-on-free-will

Harris’s response to Dennett’s response: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-marionettes-lament

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:14 — 55.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

This week I’m going to attempt to tackle the topic of free will! This is a favorite of mine. Do we have free will? Who was right in the debate between Harris and Dennett? Does determinism by definition negate free will or is there some way that they are, one might say, compatible?

This is part 1 of at least 2, I’ll try to limit it to that but I had a lot to say and didn’t get through a majority of it in one episode… Such an interesting topic!

http://patreon.com/atheist

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:36 — 52.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

This week we have Justin Schieber who I’m sure all of my listeners know from Reasonable Doubts, http://doubtcast.org! His website though is http://Justinsweh.com where you’ll find some great debate videos and other content.

For Thursday’s show we ventured deeper into counter apologetics and religious philosophy. I loved this discussion! Don’t miss it!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:39 — 54.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

This week we have Justin Schieber who I’m sure all of my listeners know from Reasonable Doubts, http://doubtcast.org! His website though is http://Justinsweh.com where you’ll find some great debate videos and other content.

Justin is a perfect guest for Atheistically Speaking because he brings a calm, well-read and meticulous approach to religious philosophy. Tune in as he and Thomas dissect the issue of divine hiddenness, as well as other tangents as usual!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:41 — 55.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Is consequentialism the obvious choice for moral theory? Well not according to most philosophers. But then again, no one theory is the obvious choice for philosophers. They are split 3 ways. What are we to make of this? Hear Thomas’s thoughts on moral philosophy and consequentialism in particular in light of last week’s episodes featuring Ryan Born, the winner of the Sam Harris Moral Landscape Challenge!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:28 — 63.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

We’ve gone a ton of shows in a row with demanding, intellectual topics. While this is definitely my favorite thing to do, occasionally it’s good to mix it up a little! So today is a more lighthearted topic: soccer. Is Ann Coulter right when she says it’s a liberal conspiracy to ruin America? No. It’s not even worth trying to make a little cliffhanger there. But I will ask this: is soccer an inferior sport? Is there such a thing? Thomas has got opinions as always!

Story referenced in the show: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/world-cup/ramadan-forces-muslim-world-cup-players-decide-religion-or-sports-n142986

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:09 — 57.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

We continue our talk with the winner of Sam Harris’s essay contest, Ryan Born! We have a very enlightening discussion of philosophy, specifically moral philosophy. Is Sam Harris right when he says that science can determine moral values? Is wellbeing really the bottom line objective in terms of morality? These are some of the many questions we discuss!

Ryan’s blog is http://pointofcontroversy.com

The Moral Landscape Challenge is here: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-moral-landscape-challenge1 and you can find several more posts about it on Sam Harris’s blog.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:00 — 53.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS