Canadian Goes to Court Accusing Alcoholics Anonymous of Bias Against Atheists

An atheist resident of Toronto, Canada has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for its alleged discrimination of atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers.

The GTA Intergroup acts as the central organising hub and directory for all AA groups in Toronto, according to VICE. It kicked out all atheist groups from its roster after they took the word "God" out of its Twelve Steps programme.

For now, there are 501 AA meetings held at 252 different locations, and "God" is still present in the Twelve Steps. But atheist and agnostic AA groups such as Beyond Belief and We Agnostics have been kicked out.

Lawrence Knight, 58, known to his friends as "Larry," got upset over this development, prompting him to take AA to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to protest against its "unfair treatment" of non-believers.

Knight is grateful to AA because it helped him find sobriety after his drinking habits became too difficult to control in the early 90s. However, he believes the words "God" and "Higher Power," which are often being used in AA literature, are quite outdated.

At the same time, Knight argued that alcoholics who had negative brushes with religious fundamentalists in their childhood could have a difficult time associating the word "God" on their road to recovery. One time, Knight said a newcomer was even accused of "sending people out to die" when he talked about his atheism.

So instead of "God," Knight wants to use the terms "Good Orderly Direction." For the longest time, Knight and his fellow atheists said they had kept mum regarding the issue for the sake of their recovery, but things have come to a boil for them.

"We finally need to step up and address the things which need to be addressed," he said. "We owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to the future, and we owe it to everybody."

When sought for comment, the Greater Toronto Area Intergroup failed to provide any. Mediation will start on Nov. 18.