Helsinki, Finland – This Northern European country is taking toxic Christianity seriously. Alarmed by the rise of Trumpism in America, this nation of 5.52 million developed a way for those stricken with Toxic White Evangelical Syndrome (TWES) to get help.
Andrew Canard is one of the Finnish lawmakers who gave the green light to developing the 12-step program. “We Finns are compassionate people. There are many Americans doing great harm to themselves and others because they are suffering from TWES,” he explained. “This program will assist those white Americans who are recovering from evangelical Christianity.”
Bill Wilson and Bob Smith developed Alcoholics Anonymous in 1835. Their 12-steps to combat alcohol addiction centers on Christianity:
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Finns simply took God out of the steps. After all, if they didn’t it would be as if alcoholics would need to use vodka tonics to escape alcoholism.
- Our lives became unmanageable while we were in the grips of fundamentalist Christianity.
- Came to believe we can overcome years of indoctrination and restore ourselves to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our minds towards reason and compassion.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to work and remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked others to help in our journey to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through and meditation and research to improve our ability to reason.
- Having had an awakening as the results of these steps, we tried to carry this message to those suffering, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Finnish government plans to assist in setting up chapters of Evangelical Anonymous throughout the United States of America. “In 50 years evangelicalism will be considered as toxic as alcohism if we’re lucky,” Mr. Canard said. “But I’m not praying for it.”
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