Our request to OA groups and meeting
What are we asking of OA meetings and why?
The Secular Service Board has made a request that all OA meetings consider adopting some measures to help non-believers remain in OA. The suggestions are:
Start the meeting with the serenity statement instead of the prayer. The statement begins, "Today we seek the serenity...." and is the same as the prayer after that.
Direct atheists and agnostics to the Secular Service Board web page where they will find a list of secular meetings, podcasts of speakers at those meetings, and written stories of those who maintain abstinence without adopting a belief in God. Face to face meetings can put it with their literature along with copies of the pamphlet, What if I Don’t Belive in “God”?. Virtual meetings can put both links in their chat:
https://www.secularserviceboardofovereatersanonymous.org
https://media.oa.org/app/uploads/2021/08/22222211/what-if-i-dont-believe-in-god-members-like-you-share-their-oa-recovery-195.pdf
Acknowledge that OA's use of the word "God" may not work for everybody. Before reading the steps, it will help the non-believer to acknowledge that they will need to adapt what they hear to their own needs.
Remind everyone in the meeting that we are not a religious organization and are not here to convince anyone to belive in God. Even though our literature uses the word "God", we support non-believers in finding what works for them.
Why is the SSB concerned?
Before explaining the purpose of each suggestion, let us explain why this is an issue at all. In the US, non-believers make up 10% of the population but just a tiny sliver of the OA membership. We are not reaching the atheist or agnostic who still suffers.
We attribute this primarily to the belief of many OA members that atheists and agnostics should be converted to monotheism (the belief in one deity). Nothing drives people away faster than proselytizing. Trying to convert people is a religious practice; we are not a religious organization, and we need to stop acting like one.
Many people think such a belief in God is a requirement for abstinence. Not true. This website offers 30 or more stories of abstinent members who do not believe in God.
For years, we have said we are a spiritual program, not a religious one. That would be fine if we did not use religious terms and practices. "God," is a religious term, as any English dictionary will tell you. And when we direct people to turn their life and will over to the care of God, we are practicing religion, monotheism, to be exact.
There are two problems here. First, the newcomer to OA does not split philosophical hairs; they hear the God talk, feel like they are in church, and leave. The second problem is that a lot of believers take our use of the word "God" as permission to preach. Even other believers are made uncomfortable when sectarian ideas are injected into OA meetings.
How these four suggestions can help
Starting the meeting with the serenity prayer alienates many non-believers before they've heard anything at all about compulsive eating. Using the statement instead of the prayer includes them as well as monotheists (and polytheists).
Posting a link to this page (https://www.secularserviceboardofovereatersanonymous.org) in your chat or on your literature table gives athesists and agnostics the information they need to use OA. They can find secular meetings here, stories and podcasts.
It is important for believers and non-believers alike to know that we support everyone in finding what works for them. What works for the sponsor might not work for the sponsee, and that's ok. This is our official stance, but it gets drowned by the number of times "God" appears in our literature and shares. A reminder in the meeting format can reassure everyone that there are many paths to abstincence.
Please also understand that the assumption that "Higher Power" is a being does not work for us either. Some people use the concept of impersonal or transpersonal powers that are not beings. Other don't use the concept of higher power at all. And yet we stay abstinent.
Why remind everyone in the meeting not to proselytize?
We don't come to OA for religious instruction. Trying to convert them is the surest way to drive non-believers away. Many cite it as the biggest obstacle to their recovery. So, despite our claim that we are not a religious program, many people try to convert the heathen. Let's remind them at every meeting to save it for church.