Why an Agnostic Can Get Well – Back T.
About This Speaker Tape
1938, New York. Back T. was a "pretty good peddler" with a history of sixty jails and a few suicide attempts, scraping by on ten dollars a week selling automobile polish. He doesn't offer a polished story; he offers the wreckage of the early days. He describes a time when the program was "like Topsy," born of no planning, and when the only way to get well was to "get down on your knees" to another person.
Back T. remains an agnostic, noting that while Bill and Bob had "overnight flashes," the rest of them had to fight through the religious requirements. He recalls the gritty reality of the first Big Book—a "lousy piece of literature" hammered out by fifty alcoholics who left no loopholes. From the "battle royale" of early groups to the Rockefeller money and the "religious extortation" labels from medical journals, he views the fellowship as the only thing that works. To him, the steps are just maintenance; the fellowship is the engine.
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