God bless you Doll, you are a A-1 Classy Lady all the way!  I was trying to think of what I could offer Duane to try to help him with his struggle. 

I hope Duane finds his way through his quite obvious, very painful struggle with his "affliction".  We know that Duane is a basically good man, struggling with the "bad side" of his being, as he has intimated to all of us through the past few posts(even though he is an ornery cuss, eh?).  He, like all of us does not deserve to be be and alcoholic.  All of us know how much we have wished that we were not afflicted with this disorder, and could be "like normal people".  It is very cool to recognize/accept/offer another way for Duane to, at least try, to find a ladder out of this pit, whether or not we feel that it would work for us.  

A note to Duane:  I also have never found acceptance of the traditional concept of a "father figure God" watching over us and protecting and guiding us.  However, I have found that men who are FAR more intelligent than me in science (IE. the nature of existence), like Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, believe in some sort of "force" behind all existence, or, at the very least, admit that there is no irrevocable proof that there is not some sort of "master" behind the "mix".  Does this mean that you have to "surrender all" to something you have little or no desire to believe in?  Don' thin' so!  If the group you have been visiting with is unaccepting of the fact that you are athiest or agnostic, look for another group, but don't give up on the fact that we can gain strength by talking to others who share our problem!