It is clear that while there are many evangelicals who live moral, upstanding lives and contribute greatly to their community and we all know of them as fine people, there are many others for whom evangelicalism is an addiction. It is for these that this 12 step program is designed. 

 

Addiction comes in many forms, alcoholism, gambling, sex, binge eating, etc.; the list seems endless. Recently, I have become aware of a dangerous new form of addiction, evangelicalism.

 

 While the effects of most other forms of addiction are restricted to the immediate family, the effects of evangelicalism could impact  us all. Many evangelical addicts are in a powerful position due to their support and closeness to the current president. This accessibility to government leaders can impact foreign policy, destroy the First Amendment, and create a fascist state. Its extreme form as I have written elsewhere, could create a nuclear war and destroy the planet.

 

Many evangelical addicts will say, “But God told me to do this.” Isn’t that statement another form of addiction? It is like the alcoholic saying, “I can control my drinking.” Excusing and justifying bad behaviors that harm others are merely more symptoms of addiction.

 

It is  for these extremists that this 12 Step Program was written. Here are the 12 Steps:

 

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over evangelicalism—that our lives had become unmanageable.

 

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

 

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of The Creator as we understood Him.

 

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

 

Step 5: Admitted to Our Creator, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

 

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have our Creator remove all these defects of character.

 

Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

 

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

 

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

 

Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

 

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Creator, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

 

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to other evangelicals, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.