12 steps for atheists

The Twelve Steps

Original version:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

For atheists:

Version One

1. Alcohol was something we could not do with, or without. Our lives and relationships were shattered.

2. We gained hope by talking to others who either have had or understood our problem.

3. We decided to accept what they said and act on their suggestions

4. We needed to own our behaviour both good and bad.

5. We discussed it with someone else.

6. We identified those personal characteristics which had shaped out lives and accepted that they needed to change.

7. We asked for practical help in effecting these changes.

8. We made a list of those people whose lives had been affected adversely by our actions and behaviour, became prepared to make amends.

9. We repaired the harm we had done to them, whenever possible without doing further harm to ourselves or anyone else.

10. We continued to own our behaviour on a daily basis.

11. We tried to discover our own place in the world and to get in touch with out own personalities.

12. We became prepared to help others follow the same path.

Version Two

1. We admitted we could not control our drinking, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that others who had had or understood our problem could help us return to and maintain sanity.
3. We decided to accept what they said and act on their suggestions.
4. We made a searching inventory of our resentments and fears, of those aspects of our own character that had contributed to these, and of the harms we had done to others.
5. We showed the inventory to at least one other person and discussed it with them.
6. We accepted our moral and personal weaknesses, and accepted that they needed to change.
7. We became willing to admit those weaknesses to others, where appropriate, and to listen carefully to any advice that they might offer.
8. We became willing to make amends to those we had harmed.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We adopted a practice of regular meditation and a practice of continued self-awareness.
12. Having achieved sobriety as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.