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Jim B. and Freethought Groups

When I was first asked to write a series of articles on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the “third founder” of AA, Jimmy B, who put “God as we understand Him” in the Steps, I thought to end the trilogy with the story of Jim’s sobriety as he recapped it on the occasion […]

The Truth Behind Tradition Three

Bill W.’s grandfather was a drunk.  Grandfather Wilson, an innkeeper, had had alcohol turn against him. “One Sunday morning in despair he climbed to the top of Mount Aeolus and beseeched God to help him.  He saw a blinding light and felt a great wind, and rushed down to interrupt the service at the Congregational Church. Demanding that the […]

Evolution of a Higher Power

Bill Wilson wrote the Twelve Steps in December 1938 in the space of one night. Bill reports, “I was greatly pleased with what I had written”1 and he was unprepared for the response he got when he read his steps to the young New York group. “The ‘liberals’ were appalled and said so.”2 The ‘radicals,’ […]