[Buddha-l] Buddhism and AA

[curt]

I have a good friend who does AA and who has attended Buddhist 
twelve-step retreats and goes to a weekly Buddhist AA "meeting" - 
although he is not actually a Buddhist.

It seems perfectly reasonable to require that people who commit crimes 
while "under the influence" get some kind of effective 
counseling/treatment. It is highly preferable, obviously, to make that 
kind of thing available prior to the legal process getting involved, 
though. There are lots of treatment options that are not "religious" - 
although many rehab clinics and programs (including the excellent and 
pricey one my friend spent three months in when he first got sober) are 
strongly oriented to AA.

The case in question, it should be noted, involved not just any AA 
program, but one being run directly by the Salvation Army ( 
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/08/BA99S1AKQ.DTL ).

Curt Steinmetz

Richard Hayes wrote:
> Some of you may have seen an article about a US federal court decision 
> involving a Buddhist who, when released from prison, was ordered by his 
> parole office to join Alcoholics Anonymous. The Buddhist sued, claiming that 
> AA is a religious organization and that being ordered to attend meetings 
> there violated his constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of religion. 
> He won his case.
>
> Any comments?
>
>