Abstract

OSORIO PEREZ, Oscar. Beliefs and expressions of religion in Alcoholics Anonymous. Cuicuilco. Rev. cienc. antropol. [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.68, pp.205-228. ISSN 2448-8488.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has shown efficacy in treating the so called disease of alcoholism through a recovery program based on two principles: accepting the definitive defeat by alcohol, and the belief that only a Greater Power can keep them in sobriety. Some academic research at AA overlooks the principle that its recovery program is “spiritual but not religious,” prefering to label the AA as “corporate with religious nuances,” and even as a “quasi-religious program.” With the aim of contributing to a more precise knowledge of the religious dimension in groups of alcoholics, this article attempts to show that the AA is not a religion, but rather as reproducing an instance of meaning; this recovery program should not be considered as religious nor as being of a quasi-religious character, but rather as a spiritual program that reveals itself to theism and all forms of institutionalized religion and that it imposes a dogmatic principle of relativity. This paper incorporates the analysis of the religious dimension in the AA with the prospect of belief as an acquired disposition, yet maintains a distance from the trend that determines religious belief as a belief in spiritual beings or dogmatic doctrines. Ethnographic research shows that religious beliefs are not only the product of institutionalized religion or theistic thought, but also stem from the dynamics in the order of everyday life, which represent maps of resistance to adversity and uncertainty.

Keywords : Alcoholics Anonymous; religious beliefs; religion; spirituality; dogmatic relativity.