Practical Enlightenment

I seem to notice more Grapevine articles on the tensions between AA and its religious traces recently. I read that old-timers threaten newcomers with relapse if they don't conform to the old-timer's idea of a miracle-working God. I read that newcomers are willing to try anything but prayer and meditation, which they insist is pernicious Christian residue they can do without. As often happens to me at meetings when drunks become more emphatic about what they will and will not accept, I find myself identifying less and less and becoming more and more alarmed.