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I have been in AA for over a year, as many people know from my recent blog post. I certainly have never thought of Alcoholics Anonymous as a cult and I am a member. Do the words Alcoholic's Anonymous come to mind? Maybe even Scientology. The Texas Polygamist Compound? Charles Manson? David Koresh? Jim Jones Kool Aid? What comes to your mind when you hear the word cult?

It makes you human; turning to AA for assistance in moving past that point does not make AA a cult. I know this because I have been at that low point. You do anything except take personal responsibility for your failure. You destroy, you denigrate, you dismiss. You blame the program. You blame everyone else. You don't look to yourself because you know you cannot change by yourself. What do you do, when you are at a low point in your life and counting on something to help you turn that life around but that something does not work? All of them were from former AA members. I frankly take those comments with a grain of salt. Many of those commenting believed that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a cult. I received many emails and comments in response to that post.

Must have a "top" in terms of its authority structure, as a whole, an organization, to be a cult. This is because there is no top. No one is handing down edicts from the top saying you must do this or that to stay in the group. Let us start with the premise that AA as an overall organization cannot possibly qualify as a cult because it has no central authority structure.

That it is the very rare exception rather than the rule, however, i believe. Perhaps the personality makeup of the specific chapter can cause the group to function like a cult. This leaves us with the question of whether the AA philosophy encourages "cult- like behavior" in its thousands of chapters.

You can read that article here. It certainly does in mine. Does that ring the "cult bell" in your head? The members of this chapter of AA basically encouraged younger female members to have sex with older male members and encouraged members in general to discontinue all ties with anyone who was not a member of this AA chapter. Sent me an article about an AA chapter in Washington D.C that was accused of being a cult, the other day someone who read my blog.

Disbanded as an AA sanctioned group, in fact, this group was, when these allegations were made public. But to say that the actions of an isolated group within a larger organization classifies that larger group as a cult is ludicrous, i agree that this particular chapter probably qualified as a cult, yes.

I frankly could take Bufe's points and make a good argument that the Boy Scouts of America is a cult . . . Then you make them fit the point you want to make, words are like statistics-you form your opinion. Why? I am not going to debate his criteria. The biggest book on this subject is AA: Cult or Cure by Charles Bufe who delineates a litany of conditions that qualify AA as a cult. What else would classify AA as a cult?

They are simply the attributes of group dynamics. Those attributes do not transform each of the aforementioned organizations into a cult. That happened in my weekly poker game. You bet. Did that happen in my law school study group? Of course it does. Does that happen in the Boy Scouts? Of course it does. Does that happen in AA? You are going to have weaker personalities who have to adopt the essence of the stronger ones to excel in the group. You are going to have strong personalities that overwhelm and dominate weaker personalities. You are going to have strong personalities and weak personalities. You are going to have a common purpose. You are going to have formal and informal criteria for membership even at the lowest level, any time you have people coming together in a group of any kind.

Looking out for each other and not trying to reform each other, and compassionate, diverse, these checks and balances are the members themselves who are different. AA groups have checks and balances. This certainly lends itself to the danger of domination by strong personalities with amoral motives in the group without checks and balances. They are open to almost every and any suggestion that will put them on a new track of self-respect and sobriety. Etc, their independent life, their family, their self-respect, they have lost their sense of self, they are weak, they are defeated. No one is walking into an AA meeting because they are at a high point in their life. These personality issues can be much more pronounced in self-help groups like AA.

But it sounds as if I am certainly not going out to fly that next mission so I can get out of the army, i have not read Catch-22 in many years. Those who think it is a cult would argue that I am a "cult member" and cult members never think they are in a cult, of course. I can see how some people who fail at it would take solace in viewing it that way, but since each person has to make it work for them as an individual, i don't think so. Is AA a cult, so?

Is there any group out there where some level of conformity is not needed to reach a common goal? Probably have issues in any group setting in which conformity to certain standards is an element of reaching a common goal, however, these people. Is there any group out there that does not have a core philosophy? I can also see how people with personalities that are just not compatible with a core philosophy would not succeed in AA and view it as a cult.

Or goals, problems, but the truth is we seek comfort and strength in groups of people who have similar experiences, i know some who would say yes. Is the legal profession a cult? Cults do not allow the existence of free will because some manner of mind-control is practiced to create the cult I sought help from an organized group when I studied for the Texas Bar Exam. But remaining free to choose and make your own decisions indicates the individual is exercising free will, seeking help from people who have experienced similar circumstances. I will not dispute that AA is about submitting to the fact that you have a problem and want help. AA is not about submission to others in the group. But AA is not about conformity, aA does offer a program of conformity.

AA is about people with a desire to stop drinking and helping other people with a desire to stop drinking. AA is not about shunning those who do not conform or submit.

Pass me the Kool Aid, if that is a cult.